By Biswajyoti Das

GUWAHATI, India, Oct 17 (Reuters) - A powerful separatist rebel group in India's northeast state of Nagaland accused the government of arming a rival faction, as violence between the two groups intensified ahead of peace talks on Tuesday.

Naga rebels have been fighting since 1947 for a separate homeland for the mainly Christian Naga people on India's border with Myanmar, in a insurgency which has killed more than 20,000 people.

A ceasefire between the rebels and the government came into force in 1997 but despite several rounds of talks, there has been little progress.

As a fresh round of talks was due to begin in Amsterdam, top leaders from the Isaac-Muivah faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) complained that security forces were heping the rival Khaplang faction (NSCN-K).

"During the talks, (we) will question the role of the Indian security forces in supplying weapons and ammunition to Khaplang to fight against us," a senior NSCN-IM leader in Dimapur, Nagaland's main commercial hub, told Reuters. He declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak on the record.

Leaders of the NSCN-IM have repeatedly made veiled threats to pull out of the ceasefire agreement in recent years but have repeatedly extended the truce after talks.

Security forces deny aiding Khaplang's group, which is based in camps in remote forests in northern Nagaland and across the border in Myanmar. The group is also observing a truce with Indian security forces but is not involved in direct talks.

Security analysts say peace with the Nagas is crucial to a broader peace in the northeast -- seven states connected to the rest of India by a thin strip of land and home to dozens of insurgent groups.

The rebels are demanding a Greater Nagaland to unite the three million Nagas, carved out of the current state of Nagaland and including Naga-dominated parts of other states.

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