Indian Maoists killed 15 policemen on Tuesday in a landmine blast in the centre of the country, an official said, marking the deadliest attack by the left-wing rebels since June 2010.
The strike, which occurred in Maharashtra state, is the latest incident in the low-intensity conflict that pits the insurgents against local and national authorities in the forests and villages of central and eastern India.
“Fifteen CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) are dead. The attack happened around 11.30 am (0600 GMT) when the bus carrying them struck an IED (improvised explosive device),” CRPF spokesman B.C. Khanduri told AFP. “The injured are now being taken to hospital. We don’t have an exact estimate for the number of injured yet.”
The attack occurred in Gadchiroli district, about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the state capital Mumbai and close to the state border with Chhattisgarh, a hotbed of Maoist activity. The head of anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh, Ramniwas, who uses one name, told AFP that 12 were dead and 25 were injured — the latest victims in a decades-long conflict that has costs tens of thousands of lives.
The attack comes in the same month that Maoists took two Italians and a local Indian lawmaker hostage in two separate incidents in the eastern state of Orissa, one of several areas where Maoists control much of the countryside. Before the kidnappings — the first to target foreigners — the Maoists had been on a tactical retreat, according to analysts, but Tuesday’s strike will reinforce suggestions that the rebels are swinging back into action.
