Bhutan deploys militia to evict ULFA rebels

"A total of 591 trained militia volunteers, including 20 women, have been sent to the southern districts as part of their training and familiarisation of duties," a Royal Bhutan Army spokesman was quoted as saying in the government-run newspaper Kuensel.

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A second batch of 119 volunteers, including 17 women, will be deployed next week after they complete training, the report said.

Bhutan this year formed a government militia force to fight and remove Indian separatists holed up inside the kingdom.

Two separatist groups from India's northeastern state of Assam -- the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) -- have well-entrenched bases in Bhutan.

The separatist Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) from West Bengal is also active there.

The militia was deployed in five areas of southern Bhutan where the three rebel groups have at least 22 camps, including their military training bases, the report said.

Indian intelligence officials have said Bhutanese troops, supported by the militias, were increasing pressure to force the rebels out of the kingdom.

Bhutan's 19-year-old prince, Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck, who quit his studies at Britain's Oxford University recently to return home, was one of the 800 volunteers who signed up for the two-month militia training.

But it was not clear if the prince was among the 591 deployed in southern Bhutan over the weekend.

Bhutanese Prime Minister Lyonpo Jigmi Thinley met ULFA leaders last month at an undisclosed venue and asked them to leave the kingdom immediately.