GUWAHATI: Paresh Baruah-led Ulfa-I, the banned anti-talks faction of the original militant outfit of the same name that he co-founded in 1979, claimed Sunday that three of its senior members were killed in targeted pre-dawn drone attacks by the Indian Army on some "mobile camps" in Myanmar's Sagaing region.The Army officially denied carrying out any such aerial attacks on the camps purportedly shared by Ulfa-I and Manipur's Revolutionary People's Front (RPF) across a stretch of the India-Myanmar border, adjoining Longwa in Nagaland and Pangsau Pass in Arunachal Pradesh.Ulfa-I said the attacks came in waves between 2 am and 4 am - involving over 150 drones of Israeli and French make - and resulted in the outfit losing insurgent veterans Nayan Asom, Ganesh Asom and Pradip Asom.

The last two were killed in the second drone strike while attending Nayan's funeral, while 19 members were wounded, the outfit said."There are no inputs with the Indian Army on such an operation," defence ministry PRO Lt Col Mahendra Rawat told TOI in Guwahati.Ulfa-I contested the statement, specifying that three drone attacks took place in the span of two hours. The outfit said residents of the border belt in Arunachal Pradesh would testify to the attacks.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, who started his stint in office with an offer of talks to Ulfa-I, and state police denied any involvement or knowledge of operations against the outfit. They said there could be clarity on Ulfa-I's claim as more information arrives from the remote border.A source in the security establishment confirmed casualties in the Ulfa-I camps in Myanmar, suggesting the attacks could be the outcome of the civil war in that country with several ethnic armed groups at heart of the strife."

The ongoing civil war there has led to frequent clashes, shifting alliances and a general breakdown of state control in many areas, particularly near the international border," the source said. "In this environment, attacks on insurgent camps - including those used by Ulfa-I - could plausibly originate from Myanmar's own ethnic armed organisations, or even the Myanmar military, rather than by Indian forces."Insurgent outfits of the Northeast have had a presence in Myanmar since the late Eighties, taking advantage of the porous border and ongoing conflict there.Indian security agencies have repeatedly expressed concern over the use of Myanmarese territory by militants for hit-and-run attacks in the Northeast. There have been instances of unconfirmed Indian military action on militants across the border on several occasions.Ulfa-I's camps are said to be in the dense forests of Sagaing, with additional bases at Waktham Basti, Hoyat Basti and Hakiyot (opposite Longding district of Arunachal). Some camps are near the Pangmi Naga-inhabited area, and along the China-Myanmar border. Manipur-based groups, including Manipur outfits like People's Liberation Army (PLA), KYKL and PREPAK. RPF is the political wing of PLA.The NSCN-K(YA) faction has its headquarters and camps in Naga-inhabited regions of Sagaing, often within a 6 to 10km radius of the other militant bases. The locations keep changing, based on what's happening on the Indian side. Ethnic Myanmarese factions and the country's military are known to back them.