India kills insurgents on Myanmar border

Indian soldiers killed a large number of militants in a gunfight along the country’s restive border with Myanmar, the army said yesterday. The army’s eastern command said its offensive – after having been fired at – had resulted in “heavy casualties” to insurgents on the Indian side of the border. No Indian soldier was killed in the firefight, the army said. The military added that the insurgents belonged to the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplan, a radical group seeking a “Greater Nagaland” for the Naga tribe within India and in neighbouring Myanmar. The Indian army has been battling dozens of separatist militant groups in the northeast for several years. In 2015, about 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a militant ambush near the Myanmar border. Much of India’s border region with Myanmar is porous and government authority there is weak. Myanmar is also plagued by insurgencies in its border regions.