12 Maoists killed in latest attack

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 latest deaths occurred late on Wednesday when commandos and paramilitary special forces acting on a tip-off targeted about 45 Maoists gathered in a village in the Midnapore district the 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 spokesperson spea-king 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.

The Indian 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.

As part of the same government operation in Midnapore district, eight Maoists were killed by security forces on Tuesday, while in neighbouring Jharkhand state 10 rebels were killed on Monday.

Maoist rebel groups have fought for decades throughout east India against state and central government rule, drawing support from landless tribal groups and farmers left behind by the country’s rapid economic expansion.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2010.