Nine killed as India's Maoist rebels blow up police vehicle

Officers were returning from an operation in Chhattisgarh state, where five alleged insurgents were killed

Children watch Maoists rebels at a training camp in Bijapur district of India's Chhattisgarh state, in 2012. AFP

Eight police officers and their driver were killed in Central India on Monday, in a roadside blast set off by communist insurgents.

The Maoist rebels – commonly known as Naxals – detonated an improvised explosive device in Bastar district in Chhattisgarh state, as security forces were returning from the site of a gunfight in which five alleged insurgents, including two women, were killed on Sunday.

“Additional security personnel have reached the area and are combing the nearby area,” said Sundarraj P, a senior police officer in the area.

Television images showed a deep crater in the ground where the explosion took place.

Maoists have waged an insurgency in large areas of Chhattisgarh and neighbouring regions for decades, despite government efforts to defeat them. They claim to be defending the rights of the poor and local tribes.

The now-waning armed rebellion has pledged to overthrow the Indian state. Inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, the armed groups are opposed to the government and democratic elections.

The Naxals killed three security personnel and injured 15 in an attack in Chhattisgarh in January last year. Ten security personnel and a driver were killed in another IED attack, in the state’s Dantewada district in April 2023.

According to some estimates, more than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 2000.