The once-tranquil jungles of Bhutan are echoing with the sound of gunfire as King Jigme Singye Wangchuck's soldiers storm heavily fortified camps to drive out thousands of Indian separatist guerillas waging a do-or-die battle.
As the fighting intensifies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Amnesty International have expressed concern for civilians caught up in the war and offered to help evacuate non-combatants. Bhutan, however, refuses to respond.
Some analysts have described the military offensive by Bhutan - New Delhi's lone dependable ally among its South Asian neighbours - as 'India's war'.
On December 15, the Royal Bhutan Army and Royal Bhutan Guards together launched Operation All Out to flush out an estimated 3,000 Indian guerillas holed up in the thick forests of the remote Himalayan kingdom, from where they have regularly staged hit-and-run strikes against Indian government targets in the rebellious northeast.
Buddhist Bhutan - wedged between China and India - shares a 380km unfenced border with the insurgency-wracked Indian states of Assam and West Bengal.
The rebels now fighting the military onslaught belong to three banned outfits: the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO).