Image copyright AFP Image caption A large number of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel are deployed in Chhattisgarh to counter the Maoist rebels (file photo)

Suspected Maoists have killed 24 policemen in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, in one of the biggest attacks by the rebels in recent years.

The officers were guarding road workers in the Sukma district, which has seen a long-running insurgency by Maoists.

The details of the attack are sketchy, but one report said it was carried out by 300 rebels.

The Maoists say they are fighting for communist rule and greater rights for tribal people and the rural poor.

Their insurgency began in the eastern state of West Bengal in the late 1960s, later spreading to more than one-third of India's 600-plus administrative districts.

Profile: India's Maoist rebels

The attack on the personnel of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) began at 13:00 local time on Monday and the clashes went on for a few hours, reports said.

It is not yet known if the Maoists suffered any casualties.

India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh later tweeted about the attack:

Image copyright Twitter

Image copyright Twitter

Indian media reports say helicopters have been used to transport the wounded to the nearest medical facility.

Extra security personnel have been now been sent to the location to look for the attackers.

The rebels are active in several eastern and central states of India.

They routinely target Indian security forces. In 2010 they killed 74 policemen in the Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh in one of the most deadly attacks.</s>NEW DELHI, April 24 (Reuters) - Maoist guerrillas ambushed a paramilitary patrol in central India on Monday, killing at least 24 policemen and wounding six in one of the deadliest attacks this year, senior officials said.

The attack was the second in as many months in remote Sukma district in the forests of Chhattisgarh state, about 400 kms (250 miles) from state capital Raipur.

Maoists seeking to overthrow the government have operated for decades across a wide swathe of central and eastern India. Security experts say the insurgency is India's biggest internal security challenge.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the attack on the patrol party of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was cowardly. "The sacrifice of the martyrs will not go in vain," he said.

Junior federal home minister Hansraj Ahir will visit Chhattisgarh to take stock of the situation, the government said.

The CRPF men were providing security for road construction, Vijay Kumar, a senior CRPF official told Reuters.

Maoist rebels have grown in strength in recent times in areas where poor, tribal villagers have come into conflict with mining companies seeking resources for industrialisation. (Reporting by Malini Menon; Additional reporting by Fayaz Bukhari in SRINAGAR; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Hugh Lawson)</s>RAIPUR: Suspected Maoist rebels killed 24 paramilitary commandos and wounded six on Monday in a remote part of central India, police said, in one of the deadliest attacks of the long-running conflict.

The soldiers were guarding road workers in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh state, a hotbed of insurgent violence, when they came under heavy fire.

"We have recovered 23 bodies from the spot and one jawan (soldier) died in Raipur during treatment," Anand Chhabra, a senior police officer, told AFP, referring to the state capital.

He said six other commandos were critically injured and had been evacuated for treatment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack against the Central Reserve Police Force, saying their sacrifice would not be in vain.

"Attack on @CRPFIndia personnel in Chhattisgarh is cowardly and deplorable. We are monitoring the situation closely," Modi posted on Twitter.

Fatal attacks by insurgents on security forces in central and eastern India are frequent, but Monday’s assault was among the deadliest in years.

Last month rebels killed 11 paramilitary policemen in the same state after ambushing their convoy, while at least 20 troops died in a 2015 attack.

In 2010, Maoists ambushed a police patrol, killing 76 in the worst-ever massacre of security forces by the insurgents. The incident shook the country and led to pressure on the government to rethink its tactics.

The Maoist insurgency started as a peasant uprising in 1967 and both sides have engaged ever since in tit-for-tat skirmishes in forests and rural areas.

The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, often collect funds through extortion.

The Maoists are believed to be present in at least 20 states but are most active in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

The long-running insurgency has cost thousands of lives in the insurgent-dominated "Red Corridor" stretching through central and eastern India. It was described by then-prime minister Manmohan Singh as the nation’s most serious internal security threat.

Critics believe attempts to end the revolt through tough security offensives are doomed to fail, saying the real solution is better governance and development of the region.</s>New Delhi (CNN) India's decades-long Maoist insurgency has claimed more lives in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi denounced as a "cowardly attack."

At least 24 police officers were killed and seven others injured Monday when hundreds of suspected Maoist rebels attacked a convoy in central India, officials told CNN.

Since 2010, Maoist rebels have killed about 2,100 civilians and 800 security force personnel as part of their ongoing conflict with the Indian government, according to official figures.

Indian Maoist -- or Naxalite -- groups have been active in the country since the 1960s, but the modern insurgency did not begin until the early 2000s with the emergence of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its armed wing, the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army.

According to police superintendent Jitendra Shukla, around 70 members of India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were patrolling a road construction project in Chhattisgarh state's Sukma district when they were ambushed.

The security forces were hit by heavy gunfire from about 500 Maoist rebels hidden in the dense forests they were passing through, CRPF spokesman Siroj Kujur told CNN.

Kujur said 23 officers died at the scene, and one died later in the hospital. Seven officers were also injured in the attack.

Prime Minister Modi said the attack was "cowardly and deplorable."

"We are monitoring the situation closely," he said on Twitter. "The sacrifice of the martyrs will not go in vain. Condolences to their families."

This is the second attack on CRPF troops in Chhattisgarh in less than two months. In March, 12 officers died in a suspected Maoist attack on another convoy in the same district.

According to the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, Maoist groups are currently active in 156 districts of 13 states across India.

The government has responded to the Maoist insurgency with a concerted security crackdown in areas in which the groups are active.

This approach has been criticized by some observers. According to a 2012 Human Rights Watch report , it has "resulted in serious human rights violations" as security forces "have arbitrarily arrested, detained, and tortured villagers, who are mostly from disaffected tribal communities."

"Routine police brutality, corruption in public service that fails to deliver on the government's development initiatives, and lack of access to resources leads to support for the Maoists who claim to defend the rights of the people," the report said, while also highlighting repeated attacks by Maoists on civil society activists operating in impoverished areas.</s>At least 24 troops killed in one of the worst attacks on the country's security forces in recent years, police say.

Suspected Maoist rebels have killed at least 24 paramilitary soldiers on Monday in a remote part of central India, a police official said, the latest attack in a simmering internal conflict.

The soldiers were guarding road workers in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh state when they came under fire. The rebels fired from hilltops at the group of soldiers, police officer Jitendra Shukla said.

Local media reported that at least six commandos had been critically injured and were being airlifted to safety.

The attack is the latest in a long-running conflict between insurgents and Indian authorities in the forests and rural areas of mainly central and eastern India.

"We have recovered 23 bodies from the spot and one jawan (soldier) died in Raipur during treatment," Anand Chhabra, a senior police officer in restive Chhattisgarh told AFP news agency, referring to the state capital.

Bhagwati Singh, a police spokesman said: "Our teams have been deployed there. We will receive more information about the situation soon."

Last month Maoist rebels killed 11 paramilitary policemen in the same state after ambushing their convoy.

The rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, often collect funds through extortion.

They say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, and have been fighting for more than three decades in central and eastern India, staging hit-and-run attacks to press their demand for a greater share of wealth and more jobs for the poor.

The Maoists are believed to be present in at least 20 states but are most active in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

The violence is believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives, with much action focused around the rebel-dominated "Red Corridor" stretching through central and eastern India.

Critics believe attempts to end the revolt through tough security offensives are doomed to fail, saying the real solution is better governance and development of the region.</s>NEW DELHI: Maoist guerrillas ambushed a paramilitary patrol in central India on Monday, killing at least 24 policemen and wounding six in one of the deadliest attacks this year, senior officials said.

The attack was the second in as many months in remote Sukma district in the forests of Chhattisgarh state, about 400 kms (250 miles) from state capital Raipur.

Maoists seeking to overthrow the government have operated for decades across a wide swathe of central and eastern India. Security experts say the insurgency is India's biggest internal security challenge.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the attack on the patrol party of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was cowardly. "The sacrifice of the martyrs will not go in vain," he said.

Junior central home minister Hansraj Ahir will visit Chhattisgarh to take stock of the situation, the government said.

The CRPF men were providing security for road construction, Vijay Kumar, a senior CRPF official told Reuters.

Maoist rebels have grown in strength in recent times in areas where poor, tribal villagers have come into conflict with mining companies seeking resources for industrialisation.

Critics believe attempts to end the revolt through tough security offensives are doomed to fail, saying the real solution is better governance and development of the region.</s>Suspected Maoist rebels killed 12 paramilitary commandos on Monday in a remote part of central India, a police official said, the latest attack in the country's simmering internal conflict.

The soldiers were guarding road workers in the Sukma district of Chhattisgargh state, a hotbed of insurgent violence, when they came under fire.

"So far, we know that 12 CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel have been martyred in the Maoist attack," Bhagwati Singh, a police spokesman, told AFP by telephone.

"Our teams have been deployed there. We will receive more information about the situation soon."

Singh could not confirm reports in local media that at least six commandos had been critically injured and were being airlifted to safety.

The attack is the latest in a long-running conflict between insurgents and Indian authorities in the forests and rural areas of mainly central and eastern India.

Last month Maoist rebels killed 11 paramilitary policemen in the same state after ambushing their convoy.

The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, often collect funds through extortion.

The Maoists are believed to be present in at least 20 states but are most active in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

The decades-long insurgency is believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives, with much action focused around the insurgent-dominated "Red Corridor" stretching through central and eastern India.

Critics believe attempts to end the revolt through tough security offensives are doomed to fail, saying the real solution is better governance and development of the region.</s>Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condemned a suspected Maoist attack in Chhattisgargh which killed 24 paramilitary commandos and wounded six.

The soldiers came under heavy fire as they guarded road workers in the Sukma district, a hotbed of insurgent violence, in what was one of the deadliest attacks of a long-running internal conflict.

Anand Chhabra, a senior police officer, said: 'We have recovered 23 bodies from the spot and one jawan (soldier) died in Raipur during treatment.'

He said six other commandos from the Central Reserve Police Force were critically injured and had been evacuated for treatment.

Another police officer, Sunil Tiwari, said that Indian security forces were looking for 'some CRPF jawans who are missing', adding that the rebels snatched weapons during the ambush.

After news of the attack broke, Modi took to Twitter to condemn the attack and offered condolences to the families of the deceased, saying the sacrifice of their loved ones would not be in vain.

'Attack on @CRPFIndia personnel in Chhattisgarh is cowardly and deplorable. We are monitoring the situation closely,' he wrote.

'We are proud of the valour of our @crpfindia personnel. The sacrifice of the martyrs will not go in vain. Condolences to their families,' he went on in another tweet.

He then added: 'May those injured in today's attack in Chhattisgarg recover at the earliest.'

Fatal attacks by insurgents on security forces in central and eastern India are frequent, but Monday's assault was among the deadliest in years.

Television footage showed injured commandos in their army fatigues being stretchered from ambulances into hospitals for treatment.

One soldier who survived the attack, Sher Mohammed, told reporters from his hospital bed that 'almost 300 of them attacked us'.

State chief minister Raman Singh said Sukma, where Monday's attack occurred, was a stronghold for Maoists waging a guerilla war from their jungle bases.

The Maoists opposed efforts to build new roads and infrastructure in the remote area because it undermined their long-running campaign against India's security forces, he added.

'In future we will need to take more precautions,' said Singh, who called an emergency meeting and rushed back from New Delhi after the attack.

He also visited injured soldiers in hospital and tweeted a picture of himself at one of their bedsides saying he was 'praying for the speedy recovery' of those targetted.

The Times of India reported that the 'Maoists' were being informed about the movements of the soldiers by some local villagers and that more than 300 rebels, including women, had carried out the ambush.

One of the injured jawans Sheikh Mohammad was quoted as saying: 'Usually they use villagers as human shield, but this time, the villagers were sent to trace our location and movement. They kept updating the Maoists.

'The rebels then ambushed and opened indiscriminate fire on us. We also retaliated and our counter fire could have killed about a dozen rebels also, but we suffered a major loss.'

The Maoist insurgency started as a peasant uprising in 1967, and since then has cost thousands of lives in the rebel-dominated 'red corridor' stretching through central and eastern India.

Tit-for-tat jungle skirmishes often result in heavy casualties on both sides.

Last month 11 paramilitary policemen were killed when their convoy was ambushed in Chhattisgarh, while at least 20 troops died in a separate attack in 2015.

In 2010 Maoists killed 76 police in the worst-ever massacre of security forces by the insurgents. The incident shook the country and led to pressure on the government to rethink its tactics.

Critics believe attempts to end the revolt through tough security offensives are doomed to fail, saying the real solution is better governance and development of the region.

The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, often collect funds through extortion.

Modi had been seeking to stem the insurgency by earmarking development funds for revolt-hit areas and improving policing. In 2015 he urged Maoists to put down their guns and take up ploughs, saying 'violence has no future'.</s>Suspected Maoist rebels have killed at least 24 paramilitary commandos and wounded six in a remote part of central India in one of the deadliest attacks of a long-running internal conflict.

The soldiers were guarding road workers in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh state, a hotbed of insurgent violence, when they came under heavy fire.

“We have recovered 23 bodies from the spot and one jawan (soldier) died in Raipur during treatment,” Anand Chhabra, a senior police officer, told AFP, referring to the state capital.

He said six other commandos from the Central Reserve police force were critically injured and had been evacuated for treatment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack and offered condolences to the families of the deceased, saying the sacrifice of their loved ones would not be in vain.

“Attack on @CRPFIndia personnel in Chhattisgarh is cowardly and deplorable. We are monitoring the situation closely,” Modi posted on Twitter.

Fatal attacks by insurgents on security forces in central and eastern India are frequent, but Monday’s assault was among the deadliest in years.

Television footage showed injured commandos in their army fatigues being stretchered from ambulances into hospitals for treatment.

One soldier who survived the attack, Sher Mohammed, told reporters from his hospital bed that “almost 300 of them attacked us”.

State chief minister Raman Singh said Sukma, where Monday’s attack occurred, was a stronghold for Maoists waging a guerilla war from their jungle bases.

The Maoists opposed efforts to build new roads and infrastructure in the remote area because it undermined their long-running campaign against India’s security forces, he added.

“In future we will need to take more precautions,” said Singh, who called an emergency meeting and rushed back from New Delhi after the attack.

The Maoist insurgency started as a peasant uprising in 1967, and since then has cost thousands of lives in the rebel-dominated “red corridor” stretching through central and eastern India.

Tit-for-tat jungle skirmishes often result in heavy casualties on both sides.

Last month 11 paramilitary policemen were killed when their convoy was ambushed in Chhattisgarh, while at least 20 troops died in a separate attack in 2015.

In 2010 Maoists killed 76 police in the worst-ever massacre of security forces by the insurgents. The incident shook the country and led to pressure on the government to rethink its tactics.

Critics believe attempts to end the revolt through tough security offensives are doomed to fail, saying the real solution is better governance and development of the region.

The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, often collect funds through extortion.

Modi had been seeking to stem the insurgency by earmarking development funds for revolt-hit areas and improving policing. In 2015 he urged Maoists to put down their guns and take up ploughs, saying “violence has no future”.</s>Maoist rebels killed at least 24 Indian paramilitary soldiers and injured six others in their stronghold in central India on Monday in one of the worst attacks on the country's security forces in recent years, police said.

The rebels fired from hilltops at a group of paramilitary soldiers who were guarding workers building roads in a forested area of Sukma district of Chhattisgarh state, police officer Vishwaranjan said.

The government has been trying to improve roads in the dense jungles of Chhattisgarh to make it easier for security forces to pursue the rebels.

The injured were taken by helicopter to a hospital. Other details were not immediately available.

CNNNews18 television quoted a paramilitary soldier as saying that hundreds of rebels attacked members of the Central Reserve Police Force and there was an exchange of gunfire between the two sides.

The insurgents, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting for more than three decades in central and eastern India, staging hit-and-run attacks to press their demand for a greater share of wealth and more jobs for the poor.

Last month, the rebels killed 11 paramilitary soldiers in an ambush in the region. In 2010, 76 Central Reserve Police Force soldiers were killed in the Dantewada region in the state in a similar attack by the rebels.

The government says the rebels are India's biggest internal security threat. According to the Home Ministry, they operate in 20 of India's 29 states and have thousands of fighters.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in a recent statement in Parliament that the Maoists are frustrated because of the success of recent security operations against them. He said that in 2016, 135 rebels were killed, 700 were arrested and another 1,198 surrendered to government forces, according to the New Delhi Television news channel.
Suspected Maoist insurgents kill at least 24 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, India.