PANERY(Indo-Bhutan border), Dec 22 ? Bhutan is determined to weed out Indian militant groups from its soil and the Army?s ?Operation All Clear? will continue, a spokesman for the Bhutan government said today, reports PTI. There would be no let-up in the Army operation against the ULFA, NDFB and KLO ultras who illegally operated from camps in Bhutan for 12 years, the spokesman, Yeshey Dorjee, told PTI.
The Royal Bhutan Army is now concentrating on the deeper recesses of the jungles where they had escaped after their camps were destroyed, Dorjee said. Apart from dealing a heavy blow to the morale of the insurgents, the Army offensive has killed 120 ultras, demolished 30 camps and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition.
Official sources in this border area said that a large number of militants surrendered before either the Bhutan Army or the Indian authority. Some beleaguered rebels sneaking in here also gave themselves up. The sources said that in one instance seven militants had trudged five days through dense Bhutan jungles without food to surrender before police here on Saturday.
Special measures were taken to evacuate women and children in the demolished militant camps before any operation was carried out in a particular area, Dorjee said. The cadres of the three outfits are a disillusioned lot abandoned to fend for themselves by their top leaders, including the ULFA ?commander-in-chief?, fleeing reportedly to Bangladesh.
The apprehension of their military strategist and commander of its crack ?Enigma group?, ?Major? Bening Rabha, and death of their idealogue and eldest member, Bhimkanta Buragohain, also left the beleaguered ULFA cadres leaderless and desperate to somehow escape with their life by surrendering. The striking power of both the ULFA and NDFB would come down considerably after their bases have been lost in Bhutan and now they would concentrate on using their bases in Bangladesh and Myanmar to strike, the sources said.
After the ejection from Bhutan, the ultras would be unable to regain a foothold in this country whose borders have been very porous, the sources said. The Indo-Bhutan border in future would be guarded by the State Subsidiary Bureau whose five new battalions are being raised for the purpose, the sources added. Meanwhile, the 48-hour ?general strike?, called by the three outfits, ended today evoking partial reponse in Assam.