A landmine attack by Maoist rebels in eastern India killed at least 12 policemen and injured three others, authorities said on Saturday. The attack, targeting a police vehicle in Jharkhand state, was to protest against the killing of one of the top Maoist leaders Koteswar Rao — better known as Kishenji — by security forces last year, police said.
“The Maoists triggered a powerful landmine targeting the police vehicle in Garhwa district,” senior police official Suman Gupta told AFP by telephone from state capital Ranchi. The policemen were apparently trapped by the Maoists in a forested area of the district, Gupta added. The Maoist insurgency, which began in 1967, feeds off land disputes, police brutality and corruption, and is strongest in the poorest and most deprived areas of India, many of which are rich in natural resources.
The attack was the latest in a series of rebel strikes on often poorly trained police battling the Maoist rebels, fighting to overthrow all state and national authorities. Last month, another landmine attack by Maoist rebels in the same state struck a convoy of a senior politician, killing 10 policemen and a young boy.
The increasingly lethal insurgency has spread to around 20 of India’s 29 states and has been described by Prime Minister Singh as the country’s biggest internal security threat.