Indian Maoist roadside bomb kills nine troops

(AFP): Indian Maoist guerrillas killed nine members of the security forces on Monday by detonating a roadside bomb that tossed their vehicle into the air, police said.

Photographs published by Indian media showed a deep crater ripped into the road by the blast.

More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalised indigenous people in India’s resource-rich central regions.

Government forces have stepped up efforts to crush the long-running armed conflict, with some 287 rebels killed in 2024, according to official figures.

The attack on Monday in the central state of Chhattisgarh took place as soldiers were returning from an anti-Maoist operation on Saturday, where four rebels and a police officer were killed.

“Eight security forces and a driver were killed today when the vehicle in which they were travelling came in contact with a landmine,” said Vivekanand Sinha, chief of the state police’s anti-Maoist operations.

The rebels, also known as Naxalites after the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

Around 1,000 suspected Naxalites were arrested and 837 surrendered in 2024.