We'll unleash HIV women, say rebels
Insurgents fighting for independence in northeast India have threatened to launch an 'Aids attack' against the army if it continues its operation against them.
The so-called attack would, however, require a certain amount of co-operation from the troops they are targeting.
The insurgents claimed they would use HIV-infected women to spread the disease among soldiers serving in five northeastern states: Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura.
'We have received threats from local insurgent groups who claimed they would unleash women infected with HIV to spread the disease among our soldiers, to neutralise our forces,' said Lieutenant-General Bhoopinder Singh, director-general of Assam Rifles in the Meghalaya capital, Shillong.
'There are such sick minds among secessionist guerillas here. We are not bothered by such threats. In fact, we think it is nothing more than a sick joke.'
However, not everyone is taking the threat lightly. Dr N.S. Dharmshaktu, a project director of the National Aids Control Organisation [Naco] in Delhi, said: 'Insurgent groups are now trying new, less expensive, ways to attack our forces. Biological warfare has become a reality. Aids can be quite a deadly weapon. All they have to do is infect young hapless girls in the region with Aids and let them infect our security forces.'
According to Naco, about 4,000 people are infected with Aids in the northeastern states.
