As many as 22 Indian police and paramilitary forces personnel were killed and 30 others wounded in a gun battle with Maoist rebels in a central Indian state, police said Today, in the deadliest ambush of its kind in four years.
Some 2,000 security personnel were on the hunt for a Maoist rebel leader in Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh state on Saturday when they were ambushed, a police officer told AFP.
“So far it is confirmed that 22 security personnel were killed,” Chhattisgarh police's Additional Director General Ashok Juneja said of the almost three-hour battle in the Maoist rebel stronghold.
“The search operation is still underway and the exact figure will be known ... late Sunday evening.” The injured personnel were admitted to two government-run hospitals in Bijapur and Chhattisgarh's capital city Raipur.More than a dozen others remained missing, he said, adding that an unknown number of Maoists were also killed in the encounter.Juneja said the rebels looted weapons, ammunition, uniforms and shoes from the security forces who were killed.
The death toll could rise further, another senior police officer in Bijapur district told AFP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the “sacrifices of the brave martyrs will never be forgotten”, while Home Minister Amit Shah wrote on Twitter that India would “continue our fight against these enemies of peace & progress”.Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel wrote on Facebook on Sunday that Shah had assured him of “all the necessary help” from the national government against the militants.
The toll was the worst for Indian security forces battling the far-left guerillas since 2017, when 25 police commandos were killed in an attack.
Seventeen police from a commando patrol were killed in an attack by more than 300 armed rebels in Chhattisgarh in March last year.
Sixteen commandos were also killed in the western state of Maharashtra in the lead-up to India's election in 2019, in a bomb attack that was blamed on the Maoists.
The Maoists, also known as Naxals, have waged an armed insurgency against the government for decades.
Leaders of the hardline leftist militant group say they are fighting on behalf of the poorest, who have not benefited from a long economic boom in Asia's third-largest economy.
Thousands have been killed in the fighting.
Senior police officer D M Awasthi said on Saturday hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers raided a hideout in Bijapur district after receiving intelligence report that a large number of rebels were gathered there.
Independent sources said that at least 26 policemen were killed and 20 injured while official sources confirmed the death of six soldiers and missing of 20 troops
He said at least 12 security personnel were wounded in the four-hour clash, adding that authorities were working to evacuate the wounded to hospitals.
Awasthi said the body of one rebel was also recovered.
State-run All India Radio tweeted that at least 20 security personnel were missing after the engagement.
The rebels used automatic weapons and grenades during the gun battle, Hemant Kumar Sahu, a paramilitary officer told The Associated Press news agency by phone.
Decades-old conflict
The Maoist rebels, inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting the Indian government for more than 40 years, in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. More than 10,000 have been killed since 2000 alone, according to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal.
The rebels claim to defend the rights of Indigenous tribes and other marginalised groups, while the government calls them India’s biggest internal security threat.
The Maoists, also known as Naxalites because their left-wing rebellion began in 1967 in the Naxalbari village of the eastern West Bengal state, have ambushed police, destroyed government offices and abducted officials.
They have also blown up train tracks, attacked prisons to free their comrades and stolen weapons from police and paramilitary warehouses to arm themselves.
Last month, a roadside bomb killed at least four policemen and wounded 14 in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh state as they were returning from an anti-Maoist operation.
