Militant outfits United Liberated Front of Asom and Kamtapur Liberation Organisation are trying to re-establish training camps in Bhutan, a senior border official said on Thursday.

But so far they have not succeeded, Sashastra Seema Bal's director general Himanshu Kumar said. The SSB took charge of guarding the Indo-Bhutan border in March 2004.

The Royal Bhutan Army, in its 'Operation All Clear', had destroyed a large number of training camps of ULFA and KLO in the dense forests.

Kumar said SSB had not yet been able to set up check-posts along the Indo-Nepal border because of staff shortage.

As a result, illegal crossings by militants continued along the 661-km-long border. "At present, SSB has 25 battalions, five of which are posted on the Indo-Bhutan border. Three of them are for guarding convoys of trucks that pass between the two countries.

"We have asked the home ministry to set up 20 additional battalions, each comprising 1,000 personnel," he said.

The SSB DG said if additional force is granted, the force will set up check-posts every 3.5 km on the border by 2007.

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