7 rebels killed in India's northeast
GAUHATI, India — At least seven people were killed in fighting between rival rebel factions in India's remote northeast, police said Friday.
A group of Naga rebels attacked a rival group's camp with automatic weapons near Dimapur, Nagaland state's commercial hub, on Thursday, superintendent of police Leiremo Lotha said.
Fighting between Naga rebel groups has left at least 40 people dead in the state in the past six weeks, Lotha said.
Five of the seven victims have been identified as members of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Unification) faction, he said.
The Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Our cadres set fire to all the vehicles at the NSCN (U) camp" as well as the huts there, spokesman Vikiye Sumi said in a statement. Police did not immediately confirm that the camp had been set on fire.
The rebel groups are fighting for an independent Naga homeland comprised of areas inhabited by Naga tribespeople in India's northeast, but there have been clashes between the various factions as each tries to gain local supremacy.
The clashes intensified after some fighters broke away from the Isak-Muivah faction last November.
The Isak-Muivah faction and another faction headed by S.S. Khaplang have reached cease-fire agreements with the Indian government.
About 2 million Nagas live in northeastern India, a region of myriad ethnic groups that has been plagued by dozens of insurgencies.
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