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Maoists killed at least 12 policemen and injured dozens yesterday in a landmine blast in Maharashtra, officials said, marking the rebels’ third high-profile strike this month.
The attack is the latest in a low-intensity but brutal conflict that pits the leftwing insurgents against authorities in the forests and villages of central and eastern India.
Earlier in March, Maoists took two Italian tourists and a local lawmaker hostage in two separate incidents in the eastern state of Orissa, one of several areas where the guerrillas control much of the countryside.
Yesterday’s attack happened in the far east of Maharashtra, about 1,000km from the state capital Mumbai and close to the state border with Chhattisgarh, another hotbed of the decades-old Maoist activity.
“We have now confirmed that 12 persons have been killed,” Central Reserve Police Force spokesman B C Khanduri said, revising an earlier figure of 15 dead.
He said that the bus carrying the CRPF men struck an improvised explosive device at around 11.30am, also injuring another 29. “They have all been evacuated to hospital,” he said.
S Virees Prabhu, the district police chief of Gadchiroli, where the attack took place, gave different figures, saying that 13 had been killed and 20 were injured, eight of them seriously.
CRPF chief K Vijaykumar, who was touring the state yesterday, spoke to federal Home Secretary R K Singh in New Delhi and briefed him.
In Mumbai, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil, who is also guardian minister for Gadchiroli, personally monitored the developments and directed relief and rescue measures.
Patil will visit Gadchiroli today to take stock of the situation and implement counter measures to deal with the Maoist threats.
Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan condemned the incident, terming it as “the height of cruelty” and paid homage to the troopers.
Before this month’s kidnappings - the first to target foreigners - the Maoists had been seen as in retreat, according to analysts, but yesterday’s strike will reinforce suggestions that the rebels are swinging back into action.
One of the Italians was released on Sunday, and the following day Indian government officials resumed talks with representatives of the rebels, who had issued a series of demands for the Europeans’ release.
These included a ban on tourists visiting tribal areas, the end of the government’s anti-rebel operations and the release of jailed Maoist leaders.
The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, have a powerful influence over large areas of central and eastern India, collecting funds through extortion and protection rackets.
The Maoist insurgency, which began in 1967, has been described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the country’s biggest internal security threat.
In 2009, government forces launched a huge offensive known as “Operation Greenhunt,” but the often poorly-trained police have faced a series of strikes as they attempt to fend off the rebels.
A landmine attack in eastern India in January killed at least 12 policemen and injured three others who were trapped by the Maoists in their vehicle in a forested area of Jharkhand state, according to authorities.
In June 2010, the rebels killed 26 police officers in an ambush in Chhattisgarh, two months after an assault in the same state that left 76 policemen dead.
The attack is the latest in a low-intensity but brutal conflict that pits the leftwing insurgents against authorities in the forests and villages of central and eastern India.
Earlier in March, Maoists took two Italian tourists and a local lawmaker hostage in two separate incidents in the eastern state of Orissa, one of several areas where the guerrillas control much of the countryside.
Yesterday’s attack happened in the far east of Maharashtra, about 1,000km from the state capital Mumbai and close to the state border with Chhattisgarh, another hotbed of the decades-old Maoist activity.
“We have now confirmed that 12 persons have been killed,” Central Reserve Police Force spokesman B C Khanduri said, revising an earlier figure of 15 dead.
He said that the bus carrying the CRPF men struck an improvised explosive device at around 11.30am, also injuring another 29. “They have all been evacuated to hospital,” he said.
S Virees Prabhu, the district police chief of Gadchiroli, where the attack took place, gave different figures, saying that 13 had been killed and 20 were injured, eight of them seriously.
CRPF chief K Vijaykumar, who was touring the state yesterday, spoke to federal Home Secretary R K Singh in New Delhi and briefed him.
In Mumbai, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil, who is also guardian minister for Gadchiroli, personally monitored the developments and directed relief and rescue measures.
Patil will visit Gadchiroli today to take stock of the situation and implement counter measures to deal with the Maoist threats.
Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan condemned the incident, terming it as “the height of cruelty” and paid homage to the troopers.
Before this month’s kidnappings - the first to target foreigners - the Maoists had been seen as in retreat, according to analysts, but yesterday’s strike will reinforce suggestions that the rebels are swinging back into action.
One of the Italians was released on Sunday, and the following day Indian government officials resumed talks with representatives of the rebels, who had issued a series of demands for the Europeans’ release.
These included a ban on tourists visiting tribal areas, the end of the government’s anti-rebel operations and the release of jailed Maoist leaders.
The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, have a powerful influence over large areas of central and eastern India, collecting funds through extortion and protection rackets.
The Maoist insurgency, which began in 1967, has been described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the country’s biggest internal security threat.
In 2009, government forces launched a huge offensive known as “Operation Greenhunt,” but the often poorly-trained police have faced a series of strikes as they attempt to fend off the rebels.
A landmine attack in eastern India in January killed at least 12 policemen and injured three others who were trapped by the Maoists in their vehicle in a forested area of Jharkhand state, according to authorities.
In June 2010, the rebels killed 26 police officers in an ambush in Chhattisgarh, two months after an assault in the same state that left 76 policemen dead.
