Two rebels -- one each from the banned United Liberation Front of Assam and the Naga rebel group NSCN-IM -- were killed following a gun battle between members of the two rebel groups at Namtola in Mon district of Nagaland on Sunday evening.
A source in the Nagaland police informed that fierce gun battle two place between a group of ULFA militants with rebels from the NSCN-IM about three kilometers inside Nagaland from Namtola inter-state border check-gate in which an ULFA militants identified Mridul Bora was killed. One NSCN-IM rebel S M Konyak was also killed in the shootout that left a civilian injured.
The proscribed known to have camps in Mon district of Nagaland, which is dominated by the NSCN-IM rebels, now in ceasefire with Government of India. The police said the reason behind the group clash between members of two insurgent outfits was not known.
The ULFA is known to be closer to the NSCN-K rebel group, the arch rival of the NSCN-IM. The ULFA has a large number of its cadres based in Myanmar courtesy NSCN-K which has its headquarter in the Kachin province of Myanmar.
The relations between the ULFA and the NSCN-IM turned for worse once the ULFA had made known its disapproval of the NSCN-IM's demand for a 'greater Nagalim' incorporating all Naga inhabited areas of neighbouring Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.