Deadly Maoist Attack on Indian Police
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - At least 20 people are reported to have been killed after Maoist rebels attacked security forces in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, media reports said.
The Maoists reportedly attacked a joint team of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and state police personnel in Jhiram Ghati on Tuesday morning.
The attack took place at around 10.30am and the encounter is stil ongoing, according to Chhattisgarh police.
Additional security forces have been rushed to the spot, Al Jazeera reported.
According to reports, the place is not far away from where several top leaders of the Congress party were killed in an ambush last year.
The Maoists have become a potent insurgent force, demanding land and jobs for the poor and fighting for a communist society by toppling what they call India's "semi-colonial, semi-feudal" form of rule.
The insurgency is believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives, with much action focused around the fighters' so-called "Red Corridor" stretching throughout central and eastern India.
Critics believe military action is not enough to stem the unrest, saying the real solution is better governance and development.
