'Myanmar to crackdown on Indian rebels'

The National Socialist Council of Nagaland, fighting for an independent tribal homeland in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, said thousands of Myanmar soldiers were moving into areas used by separatists to hide out.

"The Myanmarese army is setting up bunkers and moving military hardware close to our bases and we expect an assault by them within a week or so," Kughalo Mulatonu told AFP by telephone.

The senior rebel leader said approximately 3,500 soldiers was being moved to Myanmar's northern Sagaing Division, where the separatist group has at least 50 camps with some 7,000 guerrilla fighters entrenched in fortified bunkers.

He also alleged that India was providing military aid to Myanmar's military junta ahead of the expected crackdown.

"We are ready to give the Myanmarese military a real taste of our fighting skills," Mulatonu said.

No official confirmation of the claims was immediately available.

Two weeks ago India urged Myanmar, with which it shares a 1,640-km unfenced border, to intensify operations against anti-India separatist rebels and curb the smuggling of drugs and arms.

Myanmar has repeatedly assured New Delhi that it would not let Indian rebels operate from its soil. The last crackdown on Indian rebel camps was in February.

India says there are about 30 insurgent groups active in its northeast, of which at least 12 operate out of Myanmar's northern regions.

More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in the northeast since India's independence in 1947.

Myanmar's oppressive military government is cracking down hard on political dissent in a bid to crush any public support for possible UN action against the junta, analysts say.

In the past week, the authorities have arrested six pro-democracy activists, going to their homes, ordering them to pack a few personal belongings, and then marching them off without a word on their fate to family or colleagues.

The arrests came in the same week that Myanmar was discussed at the United Nations Security Council, with the United States vowing to introduce a draft resolution on human rights abuses in the country formerly known as Burma.

"The military is well aware of the impact that a UN resolution can have, so basically it seems the military prioritises internal security ahead of international punishment," Myanmar analyst Aung Naing Oo told AFP.