26 Naxalite rebels gunned down in India

As many as 26 left-wing Naxalite rebels were gunned down by police in the western Indian state of Maharashtra on Saturday, officials said.

Four cops also sustained injuries in the gunfight with the left-wing rebels at Korchi in the state’s Gadchiroli district, some 900km from capital Mumbai.

Acting on a tip-off, a 60-member police team, including commandos, launched a combing operation in the dense forests of
Mardintola. Seeing themselves virtually surrounded, the rebels fired at the cops.

“Our men retaliated. We have recovered the bodies of 26 naxals so far from the forest,” district police chief Ankit Goyal told the local media.

“Efforts are on to identify the rebels. The injured cops have been airlifted to a hospital,” the officer added.

The Naxalite rebels, also known as Maoists, are active in at least seven Indian states. They claim to be fighting for the rights of the poor and the landless in the country.

These rebels routinely target Indian security forces. In one of the deadliest ever attacks, they killed 74 policemen in an ambush in the central state of Chattisgarh in 2010.