Heavily-armed Maoist rebels on Saturday killed a local Congress leader Gopi Wadhwani and kidnapped at least four others. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
"We can confirm 17 deaths. Among those who have been killed are five policemen. The rest are all leaders of the state Congress unit," Rajinder Kumar Vij, the chief of anti-naxal operations of Chhattisgrah state, told AFP.
Earlier, heavily-armed Maoist rebels on Saturday killed a local Congress leader and kidnapped at least four others after ambushing their convoy in a remote tribal belt of central India, police said.
"The Maoists targeted the convoy returning from a political rally. They started firing indiscriminately and killed state Congress leader Gopi Wadhwani," police director general Ram Niwas told AFP.
The guerillas have abducted at least four other party leaders including Chhatisgarh state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel along with his son, Niwas added.
Veteran Congress leader and former cabinet minister Vidya Charan Shukla was also "critically injured" in the attack, carried out in a thickly forested area of Jagdalpur district, 284 kilometres (176 miles) from state capital Raipur.
The attack is the latest in a simmering conflict that pits the insurgents against local and national authorities in the forests and rural areas of mainly central and eastern India.
The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, often collect funds through extortion and protection rackets.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has described the Maoists as the country's most serious internal security threat, Saturday spoke to state Chief Minister Raman Singh and promised all "necessary aid".
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