Indian security forces kill 16 Maoist rebels

RAIPUR, India: Indian security forces killed at least 16 Maoists during a fierce gun battle on Saturday, police told AFP, as New Delhi ramps up efforts to crush the long-running insurgency.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the decades-long “Naxalite” rebellion, whose members say they are fighting for the rights of marginalised people in India´s resource-rich central regions.

Saturday´s skirmish in Chhattisgarh state began after security forces launched a raid in the dense forests of Sukma district, police chief P. Sundarraj told AFP.

“We have so far recovered 16 bodies from the Maoists,” he said, adding that the toll may rise further. Sundarraj said the gunfight was ongoing and that government forces had recovered a cache of arms including rocket and grenade launches, assault weapons and other rifles. A crackdown by security forces killed around 287 rebels last year, an overwhelming majority of them in Chhattisgarh, according to government data.

The Maoists demand land, jobs and a share of the region´s immense natural resources for local residents.

They made inroads in a number of remote communities across India´s east and south, and the movement gained in strength and numbers through the first decade of this century.