GUWAHATI: Indian security forces killed six tribal separatists Tuesday in the restive northeastern state of Assam, officials said.The six militants belonging to the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were killed in a lengthy shoot-out with troops near the district of Karbi Anglong, about 290 km (180 miles) east of Assam's main city of Guwahati. The operation was conducted "based on specific intelligence about the presence of six to eight NDFB militants," said army spokesman Rajesh Kalia. A few of the militants may have escaped in the dark, he added. Police said a large quantity of arms and explosives were recovered from the dead rebels. The NDFB is a rebel group that has fought for a separate homeland for the Bodo tribe in Assam since 1996, although the outfit agreed to a ceasefire with New Delhi in 2005. Despite the truce, the Assam government has repeatedly blamed the NDFB for numerous attacks. More than 10,000 people have been killed in a two-decade long insurgency in Assam, where several separatist groups are active.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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