Jakarta –
At least 12 rebel Maoist shot dead by Indian security forces. The 12 rebels were killed in the latest clashes in the decades-long conflict in the central jungle. India.
As reported AFPOn Sunday (11/5/2024), rebels were killed in a remote area of Chhattisgarh state, where there have been several deadly attacks on rebel camps this year.
“12 groups of Maoists were found during the search operation,” said local police chief Vivekananda Sinha.
Sinha said that security forces had cordoned off a forest in Bijapur district, after receiving information that rebel members were holding a meeting there.
Two members of the Indian security forces were injured by homemade bombs in the clash, but neither was in a critical condition. Search operations are continuing in the area.
According to police data, more than 100 Maoists have been killed in India this year, most of them in Chhattisgarh.
The rebels, known as Naxalites and who say they are fighting for the country’s poor, have carried out guerrilla attacks since 1967.
India has deployed tens of thousands of security personnel to fight a Maoist insurgency across the rebel-held ‘Red Corridor’, which stretches across central states, south and east but which has declined significantly in the last ten years.
The government has also poured millions of dollars into infrastructure development in remote areas and says it has reduced the insurgency to 45 areas by 2023, down from 96 areas in 2010.
Twenty-two police and paramilitary officers were killed in a fire in Chhattisgarh.
Sixteen commandos were also killed in the western state of Maharashtra in a bomb attack allegedly carried out by Maoists ahead of India’s 2019 elections.
(rfs/rfs)
2024-05-10 19:25:04
#Rebels #killed #clashes #Indian #troops
