Indian security forces killed at least 11 tribal militants in a fierce gun battle on Saturday in the country's restive northeast, a police officer said. The fighting took place in a mountainous region of the northeastern state of Assam, where 30 armed militants were intercepted by security forces during a patrol, said the officer, who did not wish to be named. "Eleven of them were killed and several others injured," he said. The injured were taken away by other militants who escaped, he said. Police suspect the dead rebels to be members of a breakaway group of the little known Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) group, fighting for regional autonomy in the region, police said. The DHD is on a ceasefire and currently holding talks with the government, but the breakaway DHD (Jewel) faction frequently targets non-tribals working in saw mills and farmlands. India's northeast, comprising eight states, has seen separatist and tribal insurgencies for the past 60 years, as militant groups accuse New Delhi of plundering the region's mineral and forest resources, but investing little in return. The region is home to more than 200 tribes and ethnic groups.
