Leimakhong (Sadar Hills), Jan. 22: The army today claimed to have ?taken control? of southern Manipur after driving out militants who were terrorising Hmar tribesmen, forcing them to flee to neighbouring Mizoram.

Maj. Gen. Govind Dwivedi, general officer commanding (GOC) of the 5 Mountain Division, said Operation Dragnet ? launched on Friday to rein in the rampaging rebels along the Manipur-Mizoram border ? had been successful on all counts. He said Thanlon and Parbung subdivisions had been completely rid of militants.

Over a thousand Hmars and Paites fled to Mizoram last week after militants of the Un-ited National Liberation Front (UNLF) let loose a reign of terror in a cluster of villages, accusing the inhabitants of sheltering members of the rival Hmar People?s Convention (D). A group of UNLF milita-nts holed up in a hamlet along the Manipur-Mizoram border used villagers as ?human shields? to stop their Hmar rivals from attacking them.

The areas sanitised by the army include Chandel, Churachandpur, Thoubal, Bishenpur and parts of Tamenglong district. Maj. Gen. Dwivedi, however, could not say where the fleeing rebels had shifted their camps.

?With the clearance of Thanlon and Parbung (subdivisions), almost all the militant camps in south Manipur have been destroyed. People in these areas can now look forward to a new era of peace and prosperity,? the GOC told the media at the Leimakhong army cantonment.

Maj. Gen. Dwivedi said the army flushed out rebels of the UNLF, one of the major rebel groups of Manipur, from Parbung and Thanlon after a three-day-long offensive code-named Operation Dragnet, which began in the early morning of Friday.

He said six bodies of UNLF rebels were found and reports had also been received that th-ree more were killed, eight wo-unded and a number of them reported missing. He admitted the loss of one Lt Col and one jawan to militant firing.

The army seized five AK-47 rifles, a large number of assorted ammunition, more than 60 kg of explosives and 25 improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Troops also defused 11 IEDs that had been planted by the rebels.

Admitting that the UNLF had a sizeable presence in the two subdivisions, Maj. Gen. Dwivedi said the militants of the outfit were now scattered. The army completely sanitised the 250-km-long Chruachandpur-Tipaimukh stretch of the National Highway-150 and soldiers will be deployed in the interiors of Churachandpur. The operation is yet to be called off.

The UNLF said its armed wing, the Manipur People?s Army (MPA), was still resisting the advancing troops at places like Parbung, Thanlon, Tipaimukh and Chongmul in Tamenglong district.

The MPA claimed eight soldiers were killed and admitted to losing four members.

In Mizoram, the Zoramthanga government today decided to set up a relief camp for the Hmar and Paite refugees at Sakawrdai, the headquarters of the Sinlung Hills Development Council.