Kolkata, Dec 18: The Bhutan Army operation against Indian insurgents in the Himalayan kingdom has achieved major success with an estimated 90 to 120 ultras being killed and most of their camps demolished, GoC-in-C Eastern command Lt Gen J S Verma said here today. "The morale of the ultras has been on the lower side for the last few days and they are low on ration and poorly fed. They (militants) can't survive and will have to give up sooner or later," Verma told newsmen at the Eastern Command headquarters the first official briefing on the status of the four-day old onslaught on the separatist insurgent groups inside the dense forests of southern Bhutan.
To a query on the casualties on the Royal Bhutan Army side, he said it was "not high and within acceptable limits of only six to seven”.
Stressing that the Indian Army was providing no artillery support to the RBA in the operation and only keeping a vigil on the Indo-Bhutan border to stop ultras from entering India, he said the operation would be taken to its 'logical conclusion'.
"The Bhutan Army was an organised body of troops, well-equipped and well-trained. Indian Army has been deployed only to seal the entire Indo-Bhutan border anticipating the rebels to cross over to the Indian territory,” he said. Bureau Report