Indian soldiers kill dozens of suspected Maoist rebels in Abujhmad forest | News about armed groups

According to police, 31 Maoist rebels were killed after a nine-hour firefight in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

According to state police, at least 31 suspected Maoist rebels were killed in a clash with Indian security forces.

The confrontation took place on Friday after counterinsurgency forces, based on intelligence inputs, surrounded about 50 suspected militants in the dense Abujhmad forest on the border between Narayanpur and Dantewada districts in Chhattisgarh, Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj said on Saturday.

The operation, which began Thursday, resulted in a nine-hour firefight the following day. Since then, security forces conducted searches in the area and recovered several weapons, including automatic rifles. No injuries or casualties were reported among government troops.

There was no immediate comment from the rebels.

Indian forces have been in a long-running conflict with Maoist rebels known as Naxalites since 1967. The armed insurgency began as a movement demanding jobs, land, and a greater share of wealth from natural resources for the country's impoverished indigenous communities.

The rebels, inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, were active in several central and northern states.

Over the years, India has invested millions of dollars in infrastructure development in remote regions as part of its efforts to combat the rebellion. The government says it has limited fighting to 45 districts in 2023, up from 96 in 2010.

The conflict has also seen a number of deadly attacks on government troops over the years. 22 police and paramilitaries were killed in a firefight with far-left rebels in 2021.

Also in the western state of Maharashtra, 16 commandos were killed in a bomb attack attributed to the Maoists ahead of the 2019 national elections.

In addition, the rebels have attacked the police, destroyed government offices and kidnapped officials. They have also blown up train tracks, attacked prisons to free their comrades, and stolen weapons from police and paramilitary warehouses to arm themselves.