PH
New Delhi – At least 12 Maoist rebels were killed in a clash with the police in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand on Tuesday, officials said.
Police said they ambushed the rebels in Palamu district in Jharkhand after a tip-off.
“There was a heavy exchange of fire after police forces intercepted them. Twelve bodies of the rebels were found after the clash,” said senior police official SN Pradhan, who is in charge of the counter-insurgency operations in the state.
Six policemen were injured. Police recovered eight automatic weapons from the scene.
“It is a major success for our counter-insurgency operations as this region is a Maoist stronghold. They have often attacked our forces here,” Pradhan said over the phone.
In April last year, the Maoist rebels ambushed a police vehicle in the same area killing eight people including six policemen.
The Maoist guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of the rural poor and tribal people, are most active in India’s Jharkhand, central Chhattisgarh and southern Andhra Pradesh states.
Thousands of people have been killed in the insurgency, which began in the late 1960s.
