Indian security forces killed 12 Maoists, including three women, in the latest of a series of raids against rebel strongholds in the east of country, officials said on Thursday.The government launched a major offensive last year to tackle the worsening left-wing insurgency, but since then the Maoists have hit back with bloody strikes including the massacre of 76 policemen in April. The latest rebel deaths occurred late Wednesday when commandos and paramilitary special forces acting on a tip-off targeted about 45 Maoists gathered in a village in the Midnapore district of West Bengal state.
"This was a major success. We found eight bodies and we have information that four more bodies were carried away by the Maoists, while many more were injured," director general of police Bhupinder Singh told reporters in Kolkata.
"When the Maoists opened fire, the forces retaliated," he said. A Maoist spokesman speaking to local media from an undisclosed location confirmed the attack but said only five rebels from the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army -- an armed wing of the Maoists -- had died.
As part of the same government operation in Midnapore district, security forces killed eight Maoists on Tuesday, while on Monday in neighbouring Jharkhand state 10 rebels were killed.
