India on Tuesday expressed its readiness to carry out joint action with its neighbours against insurgents.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh mooted this step in his first-ever interaction with top commanders of the armed forces in New Delhi.

He cautioned that India, in addition to conventional threats, was now facing "newer and non-conventional challenges".

"We are for cooperation and dialogue with all our neighbours, including joint or coordinated action on the ground, to ensure that no Indian insurgent group finds willing sanctuaries and that the supply and transit routes are totally cut off," Singh said at the daylong Combined Commanders' Conference.

The remarks assume importance in the wake the recent military operation carried out by the Royal Bhutanese Army against United Liberation Front of Asom militants and New Delhi' efforts to seek cooperation of Myanmar and Bangladesh to carry out similar drives.

Upholding the country's decision to exercise the nuclear option, the PM said this had helped remove potentially dangerous ambiguities in the region.