Indian fugitive insurgency leader traced to China, say reports

The long-time fugitive leader of an armed separatist movement in India's state of Assam has been traced to China, an Indian media reported yesterday.

Paresh Barua - commander-in-chief of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a group fighting for the independence of the northeast state of 30 million people for more than three decades - is thought to be hiding in a border town in Yunnan province, two leading newspapers reported, citing intelligence sources.

Barua, 56, has been traced to Ruili , China's largest border hub with Myanmar, thanks to a phone call intercepted by Indian intelligence, The Times of India said. He made the call to a deputy living across the border in Myanmar over fears of a security leak by a defector in the group.

ULFA members had long found shelter with Myanmese militant groups and sourced weapons from China, India's most widely read English-language paper said.

"Barua has been living in the Chinese town, possibly with a woman friend, for the past two years," it said, citing intelligence sources. "His wife and two sons live in Bangladesh."