Indian forces kill at least 29 Maoists in gun battle
Second such clash with insurgents in a month comes just days before start of national polls
Indian security forces killed at least 29 suspected Maoist rebels in a gun battle in the central state of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, days before the start of elections in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term.
The guerillas were killed in a remote part of the state, which has seen a number of deadly assaults on Maoist forces this year.
Security has been stepped up in Chhattisgarh ahead of a sixweek election beginning tomorrow. All 29 died in Kanker district, south of the state capital Raipur.
The insurgents, who ascribe to a form of communism propagated by the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, say they are fighting for the poor.
They have waged a guerilla-style struggle against the government since 1967, especially in central and eastern India, leading to periodic clashes and casualties on both sides.
Police said they received a tipoff about the presence of Maoists in the area on Tuesday and launched a raid that led to the gun battle, which also injured three members of the security forces.
“After the encounter, during the search of the area, bodies of 29 Maoists were recovered,” police said, adding that several weapons and ammunition were also seized.
District police chief I.K. Elesela earlier said that Shankar Rao, a top rebel commander who was the subject of a US$300,000 reward for information leading to his capture, was among those killed.
A Border Security Force statement said the operation had been running since Monday evening to intercept the Maoists after learning of their movements near the village of Binagunda.
Sundarraj Pattilingam, Bastar district police inspector-general, said three members of the government security forces had been wounded in the skirmish. “But they are walking,” he said.
Tuesday’s clash was the second of its kind this month, after the killing of 13 Maoist rebels during a shoot-out in Chhattisgarh on April 2.
Around 80 Maoists have been killed in India this year, according to police figures, the vast majority in that state.
India has deployed tens of thousands of security personnel to battle Maoist rebels across the insurgent-dominated “Red Corridor”, which stretches across central, southern and eastern states but has shrunk in size.
The country has pumped millions of dollars into infrastructure development in remote areas, and claimed to have confined the insurgency to 45 districts in 2023, down from 96 in 2010.
Home Minister Amit Shah, while campaigning in Chhattisgarh on Sunday, vowed to eliminate insurgency from the state within three years if Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is voted back into power.