Indian forces kill 6 Naga rebels near Myanmar border

GAUHATI, India (AP) — India’s security forces killed six separatist Naga militants in an exchange of gunfire in a northeastern state bordering Myanmar, police said.

The fighting took place early Saturday as India’s paramilitary soldiers and police officers raided a militant hideout in a thick forest in Arunachal Pradesh state, said state police chief R.P. Upadhayay.

One soldier was injured in the fighting, but his condition is stable, he said.

The security forces recovered six assault rifles, 500 bullets and two homemade bombs from the rebels, he said.

Upadhayay said the insurgents belonged to the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) group, which demands an independent homeland in India’s northeast, where nearly 2 million Naga tribespeople live mainly in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh state.

The insurgents use their hideouts in Myanmar through Arunachal Pradesh state.

The group is in peace talks with the Indian government since 1997. It signed a preliminary agreement in 2015. It observes a cease-fire in Nagaland state, but attacks government forces elsewhere in the region.