At least nine Maoists and a soldier were killed on Friday when Indian troops launched a major offensive against a rebel stronghold in the central state of Chhattisgarh, an official said.
State police chief Vishwaranjan put the toll at 10 dead but others said that more casualties were likely after an intense firefight in the jungles of Singamadagu district, 500km south of state capital Raipur.
“Nine Maoists and an assistant commandant have died and five troopers are missing,” said Vishwaranjan, who uses one name.
NDTV television reported that 30 Maoists had been killed and 10 soldiers were missing, though these figures could not be independently verified.
Other security officials in Raipur said up to 250 troopers drawn from police, paramilitary and commando units were involved in the offensive in Singamadagu, where phone communication is virtually non-existent.
Maoists hold sway across wide swathes of Chhattisgarh, the state worst hit by a leftwing insurgency that has spread to 20 of India’s 29 states, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.
Vishwaranjan said the commander died when the Maoists retaliated after security forces raided a rebel arms factory in Singamadagu, where the guerrillas have virtually established a parallel administration.
In June, Chidambaram slapped a formal ban on the Maoist rebels, whose strength is variously estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000, officially designating them as “terrorists.”
The skirmish erupted days after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rebuked police chiefs for failing to tackle the insurgency, which started as a peasant uprising in 1967.
“I would like to say frankly that we have not achieved as much success as we would have liked in containing this menace,” he said.
The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribespeople and landless farmers, and against exploitation by feudal landlords.
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