Twelve paramilitary troopers were killed and 11 injured when their vehicle hit a landmine planted by Maoist rebels in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, news reports said yesterday.
The troopers were killed on Saturday evening in a forested area of Tongapal in Dantewada district, about 500km south of the state capital Raipur, IANS and PTI news agencies reported.
A 40-member squad of the Central Reserve Police Force and district police was returning to base camp after searching for Maoist rebels, police said.
The victims were traveling in a truck which hit the landmine. Seven men died on the spot and four on their way to hospital, TJ Longkumer, inspector general of police, said.
“One more succumbed to injuries midnight at the hospital where 11 men were rushed in a critical condition,” Longkumer said.
He said the toll could go up as some policemen were still missing.
“We have rushed extra police forces to the attack site,” Longkumer said.
The police team was returning from a village in the Tongepal area after receiving information that the Maoist rebels had set fire to some trucks used in road construction.
An unnamed local police official was quoted as saying rebels burned the trucks to lure the soldiers into an ambush in Bastar area of the Dantewada forests.
Chhattisgarh police estimate that roughly 10,000 rebels operate in the southern part of the state that includes Dantewada and Bijapur districts.
Maoists guerrillas operate in 13 of India’s 29 states. The Bastar region, which has a large tribal population and poor development, is one of their strongholds, authorities say.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
RSS