Major Indo-Myanmar ops, all insurgent groups targeted

The ongoing "OperationSunrise-II", a joint operation of India and Myanmar in the Myanmar sideof  Naga hills have entered the finalstage as the operation have neutralized a major chunk of North East insurgentsincluding the NSCN(K) militants, nabbing 72 of them and destroying the main HQleaving all of them on run.

Although the NSCN (K) have beenin retreat mode and avoiding direct confrontation with both the armies, theNSCN(K) are now saying that would no longer retreat but there would be a faceoffwith the army, which the Army top bosses feels as empty threats to slow downthe army advances.

The army is rather getting readyto start the Operation-Sunrise -III , which is a mopping up in nature, to wipeoff all the militant groups still surviving in the Taga region of NorthernMyanmar adjoining Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

This is the biggest operation ofrecent times and Army controlled the flow of information so that it does notdistract the operation while it was on, the source said.

The armies of India and Myanmarcarried out a three-week-long coordinated operation from May 16 in theirrespective border areas, targeting several militant groups operating inManipur, Nagaland and Assam, Defence sources said on Sunday.

The first phase of "OperationSunrise" was conducted three months ago along the Indo-Myanmar border, duringwhich a number of camps of North East-based militant groups were busted.

Myanmar is one of the strategicneighbours of India and shares a 1,640-km border with a number of NortheasternStates, including the militancy-hit Nagaland and Manipur.

Sources said during "OperationSunrise 2", the armies coordinated with each other to bust camps of militantoutfits, including the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), NSCN (Khaplang),United Liberation Front of Assam (I) and National Democratic Front of Boroland(NDFB).

They said at least six dozenmilitants belonging to these groups were nabbed and several of their campsdestroyed during the operation. Besides the Indian Army, troops from the AssamRifles were also part of the operation.

In the first phase of "OperationSunrise", the Indian Army targeted members of the Arakan Army, an insurgentgroup in Myanmar, who were opposed to the Kaladan multi-modal transit transportproject.

According to security agencies,there were over 50 camps of insurgent groups from the North East in Myanmartill last year.