12 rebels killed in India's northeast: police

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GUWAHATI, (India), June 4 (AFP): At least 12 separatist rebels were killed and one injured Wednesday in a shoot-out between rival groups in India's insurgency-hit northeastern state of Nagaland, police said. he two armed factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) clashed near Dimapur, Nagaland's commercial hub, in a dispute over territory, local police chief Liremo Lotha told AFP.

"We are not in a position to say immediately which group the dead militants belong to," Lotha said, adding security personnel were combing through the area.

The fratricidal war between the two factions-the NSCN-U and the NSCN-IM-has left at least 50 dead in the past three months.

Both groups are fighting for an independent Naga homeland, although the NSCN-IM is currently holding a ceasefire with government troops.

The insurgency in Nagaland has left more than 25,000 people dead since India's independence in 1947.