- The photographs show a deep crater opened in the road.
- More than 10,000 people have died in a decades-long insurgency.
- Naxalites inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader.
RAIPUR, INDIA: Indian Maoist guerrillas killed nine members of the security forces on Monday by detonating a roadside bomb that threw their vehicle into the air, police said.
Photographs published by Indian media showed a deep crater opened in the road by the explosion.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the decades-long insurgency waged by rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized indigenous people in India’s resource-rich central regions.
Government forces have stepped up efforts to crush the protracted armed conflict, and some 287 rebels have been killed in 2024, according to official figures.
Monday’s attack in the central state of Chhattisgarh came as soldiers were returning from an anti-Maoist operation on Saturday, in which four rebels and a police officer were killed.
“Eight security personnel and a driver were killed today when the vehicle they were traveling in came into contact with a landmine,” said Vivekanand Sinha, head of anti-Maoist operations of the state police.
The rebels, also known as Naxalites after the district where they began their armed campaign in 1967, were inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
Around 1,000 suspected Naxalites were arrested and 837 surrendered during 2024.
Amit Shah, India’s home minister, warned Maoist rebels in September to surrender or face an “all-out” attack, saying the government hoped to crush the insurgency by early 2026.
The movement gained strength and numbers until the early 2000s, when New Delhi deployed tens of thousands of security personnel against the rebels in a strip of territory known as the “Red Corridor.”
The insurgency has been drastically curtailed in its area in recent years.
Since then, authorities have invested millions of dollars in local infrastructure and social projects to combat Naxalite appeal.
