At least 13 Maoist rebels have been killed in a gunfight with security forces in central India.
The country’s police reported this information on Wednesday (April 3).
According to the police, there was a gunfight with the security forces in a remote forest of Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh state on Tuesday. The gun battle with the guerillas lasted for about 14 hours. A large quantity of rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and ammunition were seized.
Local police chief P. Sundarraj said that the identity of the killed Maoists has not been confirmed yet. However, three of the dead were women.
According to police statistics, more than 50 Maoists have been killed in India this year. 46 of them are in Chhattisgarh and four more in Maharashtra state.
Meanwhile, New Delhi has invested millions of dollars in infrastructure development in remote areas. According to their claim, the insurgency was limited to 45 districts in 2023.
In 2010, this number was 96. In addition, the annual death toll of insurgents has fallen by more than two-thirds over the past decade, according to government statistics.
