At least 12 Maoist insurgents were shot dead by Indian security forces yesterday, police said, during the latest clash in a decades-long conflict waged in the country’s central forests.
The guerrillas were killed in a remote part of Chhattisgarh state, where there have been a number of deadly assaults on rebel encampments this year.
“The bodies of 12 Maoists have been recovered during the search operation,” local police chief Vivekananda Sinha told AFP.
Sinha said security forces had cordoned off a forested area in Bijapur district after receiving intelligence that insurgent cadres were meeting there.
Two members of the Indian security forces had been wounded by homemade bombs during the clash but neither was in a dangerous condition, he added. Search operations were continuing in the area, Sinha said. More than 100 Maoists have been killed in India this year, according to police figures, the vast majority in Chhattisgarh. The insurgents say they are fighting for the rural poor, have been carrying out guerrilla attacks since 1967.
