Indian police kill 25 suspected Maoists: officer

Indian security forces said on Tuesday they had killed 25 suspected Maoist guerrillas in the insurgency-riven central state of Chhattisgarh, while two policemen died in a separate land mine blast.

"At least 25 Maoists were killed at Jagargunda village in a fierce gun battle with security forces," the chief policeman in charge of anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh, Ramniwas, who only uses one name, told AFP.

About 500 police and paramilitaries attacked up to 200 suspected Maoists who had gathered for a meeting in a village in Dantewada district, south of the state capital Raipur, local police sources told AFP.

None of the policemen or paramilitary was injured in the attack, the Central Reserve Police Force said in a statement, adding that the dead men "belonged to the military company of the Maoist guerrillas."

The state government earlier this year said there were some 1,300 armed guerrillas operating in Chhattisgarh.

In another rebel stronghold of the state, Bijapur district, a landmine blew up a police vehicle killing two paramilitary officers, local police official Rajbhanu told AFP.

Outlawed Maoist guerrillas who hold sway over the dense forests in Dantewada have been blamed for killing 125 policemen and troopers in three separate attacks since April.

Almost 1,000 people, including 577 civilians, died in the first 10 months of 2010 in violence linked to the raging Maoist insurgency across India, according to official data.

The government launched a major offensive last year to snuff out the left-wing insurgency, described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the biggest internal security threat facing India.

It also budgeted 661 billion rupees (14.6 billion dollars) for rural development in the current financial year to help erode grassroots support for the Maoists.

The rebel movement, which began in 1967, feeds off land disputes, police brutality and corruption and is strongest in the poorest and most deprived areas of India, many of which are rich in natural resources.

The insurgency has strengthened in the so-called "Red Corridor" states covering Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

New Delhi has rejected demands to deploy the army against the Maoists, insisting that paramilitary and state police forces are capable of dealing with the threat.

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