GUWAHATI (India), Feb 23: Indian troops killed six separatist rebels in a fierce gun battle near the border with Myanmar on Saturday and recovered several weapons, a military spokesman said.

The militants were identified as members of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), fighting for the independence of nearly two million people in the northeast Indian state of Manipur.

Colonel L.M. Pant said a cache of automatic rifles, rocket and grenade launchers, and pistols was recovered after the shootout close to Moreh, a Manipur town bordering Myanmar.

The Liberation Front accuses New Delhi of doing little for the economic welfare of the verdant, hilly state, and has waged an armed struggle for almost two decades.

India’s remote northeast region, ringed by China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan and home to more than 200 tribes, has been racked by separatist insurgencies since the country gained independence from Britain in 1947.

—Reuters