Eleven personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed when underground Maoists ambushed a Road Opening Party in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Saturday, reports said. The CRP jaways too opened fire and it is believed that two Maoists died in the exchange of fire.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Oak Ridge Observer. </s> At least nine Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in an attack by Maoist fighters in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Saturday, PTI reported. They belonged to the 219 battalion. Several others are believed injured. Chief Minister Raman Singh confirmed the news. </s> At least nine personnel of the 212 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed and two injured in a powerful IED blast by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Tuesday. Personnel were conducting an area-domination operation in a forest in the Kistaram area when their mine-protected vehicle (MPV) was reportedly blown up, possibly by several explosives.

According to official sources, the casualties are likely to rise. The injured personnel are being airlifted to Raipur.

Last April, in the biggest Maoist attack on CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh in the last seven years, 25 jawans were killed and six injured in an ambush in the Burkapal area of Sukma. According to officials, personnel from the 74th Battalion of CRPF were ambushed after emerging from their camp to secure an under-construction road in the area. </s> Eight personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force’s 212 battalion were killed and six injured in the Kistaram region of Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Tuesday, ANI reported. Of the injured personnel, four are in critical condition.

The security forces were carrying out search operations in the area when suspected Maoists detonated three explosives and started firing on the paramilitary soldiers, The Hindu reported. The rebels, who had earlier in the morning fired at the paramilitary force’s Cobra battalion, reportedly blew up the mine-protected vehicle the soldiers were travelling in. The incident reportedly took place at 12.30 pm.

This incident comes a week after two Border Security Force personnel were killed in the state’s Rowghat area and a former police constable was shot dead in Sukma. The attacks on the security forces have gone up since a joint team of the Telangana and Chattisgarh Police killed 12 suspected Maoists in Dantewada district’s Pukari Kanker region on March 2. </s> At least nine jawans belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed, while six others critically injured in a Maoist attack in Chattisgarh on Saturday.

The attack happened in the Sukma district of the state. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh told ANI that nine CRPF jawans "have lost their lives" in the Maoist attack. </s> Eleven Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were on Saturday killed when Naxals ambushed a road opening party of the security forces in Maoist-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, police said.

Five jawans were also injured in the attack that took place in the dense forests of Bhejji police station limits at 9:15 AM when a patrol party of CRPF’s 219 battalion was out for a road opening task near Kotacheru village.

112 security personnel were part of the patrol party. The Naxals also looted ten weapons and two radio sets from the killed men, officials said. A senior official told PTI that the road opening party (ROP) of CRPF’s 219th battalion was on an operation to ensure security to a patch on the under-construction Injram-Bhejji road, around 450 kms away from the state capital.

While the ROP was passing through the forests between Bhejji and Kottacheru villages, Naxals opened indiscriminate fire on them, he said. Officials said the security personnel were first trapped in multiple Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts followed by ambush with heavy gunfire.

Additional forces have been rushed to the spot and the bodies of the deceased are being retrieved, he added. The injured have been air lifted and brought to the CRPF field hospital in Bheji. A special CoBRA team has been rushed in as a reinforcement. </s> Raipur: Eight personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed when suspected Maoists blew up their mine-protected vehicle (MPV) in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district today, an official said. Some jawans were also reported to be injured in the explosion, but there was no official confirmation yet, he said. The blast occurred when a team of CRPF’s 212th battalion was patrolling in a forest in Kistaram area of Sukma, located around 500 kms from here, a paramilitary official told PTI.

“Eight paramilitary personnel, belonging to the 212th battalion, were killed in the blast,” he said. The security men were conducting an area-domination operation in the forest of Kistaram when the Maoists blew up the CRPF’s mine-protected vehicle, he said. The rebels used a lot of explosives to blow up the vehicle, the official said. Soon after the incident, reinforcement was rushed to the spot, he said, adding that further details were awaited. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption A large number of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel are deployed in Chhattisgarh to counter the Maoist rebels (file photo)

Suspected Maoists have killed 24 policemen in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, in one of the biggest attacks by the rebels in recent years.

The officers were guarding road workers in the Sukma district, which has seen a long-running insurgency by Maoists.

The details of the attack are sketchy, but one report said it was carried out by 300 rebels.

The Maoists say they are fighting for communist rule and greater rights for tribal people and the rural poor.

Their insurgency began in the eastern state of West Bengal in the late 1960s, later spreading to more than one-third of India's 600-plus administrative districts.

Profile: India's Maoist rebels

The attack on the personnel of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) began at 13:00 local time on Monday and the clashes went on for a few hours, reports said.

It is not yet known if the Maoists suffered any casualties.

India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh later tweeted about the attack:

Image copyright Twitter

Image copyright Twitter

Indian media reports say helicopters have been used to transport the wounded to the nearest medical facility.

Extra security personnel have been now been sent to the location to look for the attackers.

The rebels are active in several eastern and central states of India.

They routinely target Indian security forces. In 2010 they killed 74 policemen in the Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh in one of the most deadly attacks. </s> At least 24 troops killed in one of the worst attacks on the country's security forces in recent years, police say.

Suspected Maoist rebels have killed at least 24 paramilitary soldiers on Monday in a remote part of central India, a police official said, the latest attack in a simmering internal conflict.

The soldiers were guarding road workers in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh state when they came under fire. The rebels fired from hilltops at the group of soldiers, police officer Jitendra Shukla said.

Local media reported that at least six commandos had been critically injured and were being airlifted to safety.

The attack is the latest in a long-running conflict between insurgents and Indian authorities in the forests and rural areas of mainly central and eastern India.

"We have recovered 23 bodies from the spot and one jawan (soldier) died in Raipur during treatment," Anand Chhabra, a senior police officer in restive Chhattisgarh told AFP news agency, referring to the state capital.

Bhagwati Singh, a police spokesman said: "Our teams have been deployed there. We will receive more information about the situation soon."

Last month Maoist rebels killed 11 paramilitary policemen in the same state after ambushing their convoy.

The rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, often collect funds through extortion.

They say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, and have been fighting for more than three decades in central and eastern India, staging hit-and-run attacks to press their demand for a greater share of wealth and more jobs for the poor.

The Maoists are believed to be present in at least 20 states but are most active in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

The violence is believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives, with much action focused around the rebel-dominated "Red Corridor" stretching through central and eastern India.

Critics believe attempts to end the revolt through tough security offensives are doomed to fail, saying the real solution is better governance and development of the region.
At least 11 Central Reserve Police Force troops are killed after their convoy is attacked by suspected Communist Party of India militants in Chhattisgarh.