Four cops die in Maharashtra Maoist clash

Four security personnel, including one commando of a special anti-Maoist squad, were killed in an encounter with the communist rebels in Maharashtra’s Gadhchiroli district on Thursday, police said.

A group of around 250 Maoists opened fire on a police party comprising of C-60 commandos and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel at Nargond on Thursday morning, said Additional Superintendent of Police Rakesh Seth.

Fifteen Maoists also died in the clash, a senior law enforcement officer was quoted as saying. However, bodies of only two red rebels were recovered so far, media reports said.

The security forces also fired back and the gunbattle continued for over an hour. The injured were taken to the Gadchiroli Civil hospital for treatment.

At least seven CRPF personnel were killed in an ambush by the Maoists in the rebel-dominated Dantewada area of Chhattisgarh barely a day ago.

Supposedly fighting for the rights of indigenous tribals and the rural poor, Maoists are active in several states in central and eastern India and often target police and government officials, killing at least 1,174 rebels, troops and civilians last year alone.

Over one-third of India’s 626 administrative districts are affected by the four-decade old insurgency, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as the country’s biggest internal security challenge.