India: National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) militants gun down 8 Assam Rifles men near Myanmar border
Suspected rebels on Sunday ambushed and killed eight Indian paramilitary soldiers in the remote, troubled northeast, police said.
Naga rebels armed with automatic weapons fired at two trucks carrying the soldiers in Nagaland state, in a region bordering Myanmar, police said. The mountainous region is known for its natural beauty but has been battling insurgency for decades.
Violence has flared recently since the Naga rebels and Indian government called off peace talks last month. The rebels demand an independent homeland in India’s northeast, where nearly 2 million Naga tribespeople live mainly in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh state.
The Indian government is offering wide autonomy but demands the rebels end their separatist campaign and says it cannot redraw state borders to allow all the Nagas to live together in one state.