Senior Indian Maoist rebel leader killed

A senior Maoist rebel leader was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in eastern India, news reports said Friday.

Press Trust of India quoted a top paramilitary official as saying the operation that killed Kishenji, who uses just one name, was "clean and successful."

Another official, Vineet Goel, told PTI that Thursday's operation was planned after police and paramilitary forces received word that rebels were holed up in the Burisole forest in West Bengal state.

Police told The Associated Press that Kishenji's niece and mother have yet to identify the body.

Kishenji was one of several leaders of the Maoists. He was born in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and had been part of the rebels since the 1980s. Authorities had blamed him for a brazen attack on a security camp that killed 24 men in West Bengal last year. 

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