[Dawn] At least 24 Maoist rebels and one paramilitary soldier were killed in a gun battle in India's insurgency-riddled Chhattisgarh state on Friday, police said. Chhattisgarh state inspector general of police R.K. Vij said police and paramilitary troopers launched a clearing operation in Dantewada district on Thursday. As the soldiers closed in on a rebel-infested area early Friday, a gunbattle broke out killing the rebels.
Hundreds of police and special forces encircled more than 100 heavily armed Maoists around a rebel stronghold, added Girdhari Nayak, additional director general of police in Chhattisgarh. 'The casualty figure is not less than two dozen. We have so far recovered 10 bodies,' Nayak said. Police said a heavy exchange of gunfire was still under way in a forest, 450 km (280 miles) from the state capital, Raipur.
Thousands have been killed in the Maoist insurgency which began in the late 1960s and which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as one of the gravest home-grown threats to India's internal security.
This week, Singh told India's police chiefs that a campaign against the rebels had failed to produce results and that rebel violence was on the rise in many states.
The rebels have been demanding land and jobs for agricultural laborers and the poor. They have increased attacks on railways, power and telecommunication networks to halt economic development, officials say. They say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.