At least 10 tribal separatists were killed in a gun battle between two rival gangs in India's northeastern state of Manipur, the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported Tuesday.
Armed militants of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland ( NSCN-IM) and the Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) fought near a village in Ukhrul district on Monday, about 70 km northeast of the state capital of Imphal, IANS quoted a police spokesman as saying.
"The KLA rebels were coming in two jeeps when they were ambushed by suspected NSCN-IM militants resulting in the death of 10 KLA cadres," Dorji Lahiri, police chief of Ukhrul, said.
The NSCN-IM is a rebel group fighting for a tribal Naga homeland in the neighboring Nagaland state. The group has been observing a cease-fire with New Delhi since 1997 and holding peace talks.
The KLA is a group fighting for an independent homeland for the Kuki tribe in Manipur, bordering Myanmar.
Both are engaged in a bitter fratricidal clash for territorial supremacy in the area since long with an estimated 500 people of the two tribes killed in gunfight in the past one decade, IANS said.
Source: Xinhua
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