Guwahati: The NSCN-Eastern Flank‘s (NSCN-EF) provisional government has claimed that drones dropped around 60 bombs on Mt. Horeb camp in Myanmar’s Naga Self-Administered Zone in the early hours of Sunday, alleging that parts of the camp were destroyed but no was one injured.
According to a report by CNI Myanmar, the attack began around 2.30 am on October 11 and continued until 4.30 am. The camp was rocked by successive explosions, with some bombs reportedly exploding mid-air and others hitting trees and the camp directly.
The reported number of bombs and extent of damage could not be independently verified by Northeast Now.
The camp is reportedly associated with an NSCN-IM splinter faction, which announced the formation of a provisional government headed by Ikato I. Chishi Swu, son of the organisation’s co-founder and former chairman Isak Chishi Swu.
Another Naga armed group operating in the area also reported that the Mt. Horeb camp had been targeted, but said it remained unclear whether the strikes were carried out by Indian defence forces or by Myanmar’s People’s Defence Forces (PDF).
Senior journalist and author Rajeev Bhattacharyya, reacting to the incident on X, said he was “extremely doubtful about the Myanmar military’s role in this episode”.
Amid Myanmar’s ongoing civil war, which intensified following the military coup in February 2021, Bhattacharyya observed that the military junta would be more likely to direct its resources towards targeting the PDF or ethnic armed organisations (EAOs).
The alleged attack comes four days after India and Myanmar held their third Defence Cooperation Meeting in Guwahati on October 7. The meeting, co-chaired by India’s Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh and Myanmar’s Chief of Armed Forces Training, Lieutenant General Pyae Sone Linn, reviewed existing defence cooperation initiatives and discussed further collaboration in training, capacity building and mutual security.
The incident also follows a reported drone strike on Langkho village in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region on October 3, in which two people, including a nine-year-old girl, were reportedly injured. The Naga Students’ Organisation, Myanmar alleged Indian Army’s involvement in the strike, though the allegation could not be independently verified.
The latest reported strikes come amid continuing tensions involving Naga armed groups operating along the India-Myanmar border. On September 29, a combined force of the NSCN-K/YA and the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) reportedly attacked Assam Rifles personnel constructing a border fence between Pangsau in Myanmar and Nampong in India. The incident reportedly left one Assam Rifles personnel dead.