Indian soldiers kill dozens of suspected Maoist rebels in Abujhmad forest

Police say 31 Maoist rebels killed in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh after a nine-hour firefight.

At least 31 suspected Maoist rebels have been killed during a clash with Indian security forces, state police said.

The confrontation took place on Friday after counterinsurgency forces, acting on intelligence, surrounded approximately 50 suspected rebels in the dense Abujhmad forest, located on the border between Narayanpur and Dantewada districts in Chhattisgarh, according to Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj on Saturday.

The operation, which began on Thursday, led to a nine-hour firefight the following day. Security personnel have since been conducting search operations in the area and have recovered several weapons, including automatic rifles. No injuries or casualties have been reported among the government forces.

There was no immediate statement from the rebels.

Indian forces have been engaged in a long-running conflict with Maoist rebels, known as Naxalites, since 1967. The armed uprising began as a movement demanding jobs, land, and a greater share of the wealth from natural resources for the country’s impoverished Indigenous communities.

The rebels, inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been active across several central and northern states.

Over the years, India has invested millions of dollars in infrastructure development in remote regions as part of its efforts to combat the rebellion. The government claims to have confined the fighting to 45 districts in 2023, down from 96 in 2010.

The conflict has also seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces over the years. Twenty-two police and paramilitaries were killed in a gun battle with the far-left rebels in 2021.

Sixteen commandos were also killed in the western state of Maharashtra in a bomb attack that was blamed on the Maoists in the lead-up to national elections in 2019.

Moreover, the rebels have ambushed police, destroyed government offices and abducted officials. They have also blown up train tracks, attacked prisons to free their comrades and stolen weapons from police and paramilitary warehouses to arm themselves.