Indian police officers killed in Chhattisgarh Maoist attack
January 6, 2025
Police in India on Monday confirmed media reports of multiple deaths, with a statement saying nine people had died.
No armed group has claimed responsibility for the attack, although security forces have pointed to the Maoist insurgency, which has a strong presence in this region.
The bombing is the latest in a series of sporadic attacks on security forces in India's Chhattisgarh state. It comes after frequent gun battles between security forces and insurgents.
What we know about the blast
Images released from the scene showed the crater several metres in diameter caused by the explosion, as well as the debris scattered on the ground of the vehicle. The incident took place on a dirt road located in an area of dense vegetation in the Bijapur district.
"Eight security forces and a driver were killed today when the vehicle in which they were travelling in came in contact with a landmine," said Vivekanand Sinha, chief of the state police's anti-Maoist operations.
The vehicle was returning from an operation against the insurgency, the Inspector General of Police of Bastar district, Sundarraj Pattilingam, told the Indian agency ANI.
What we know about the insurgents
Chhattisgarh and its neighboring states in central and eastern India have been affected by a decades-long Maoist insurgency. The areas the militant groups operate in have reduced significantly over the years.
The Indian authorities refer to the Maoist insurgency as "Naxalites," since the movement was born after a revolt in the Bengali village of Naxalbari in 1967.
Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah warned the Maoist rebels in September to surrender or face an "all-out" assault. He said the government expected to crush the insurgency by early 2026.
Active for half a century, especially in the so-called "red belt" of central and eastern India, the Maoists seek to impose an agrarian revolution in the country.
In October last year, around 30 Naxalite insurgents were killed in a clash with Indian security forces in a jungle area of Chhattisgarh state in the biggest clash with the Maoists in 2024.
rc/kb (Reuters, EFE)