At least 24 Indian security forces personnel were killed and more than six others injured in a fierce encounter with left-wing Naxalite rebels in the central state of Chhattisgarh Monday, officials said.
"The encounter took place around 1 p.m. (local time) after a group of 300 armed Naxalite rebels laid an ambush on a patrolling party of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) near Kala Pathar close to Burkapal village in the state's Sukma district," additional police chief of Sukma district, Jitendra Shukla, told the media.
Initially 23 CRPF troopers died on the spot, while another one succumbed to his injuries while being airlifted to a hospital, along with six other injured. "The CRPF personnel were protecting a group of construction workers building a road in the area when the ambush took place," he said.
According to the official, after the encounter the Naxalites looted all the arms and ammunition of the security forces, who belonged to the 74th battalion of CRPF. "A group of commandoes of the CRPF have been airlifted to the area to nab the perpetrators of the crime," he added.
Following the attack, state Chief Minister Raman Singh cut short his visit to New Delhi and rushed back to Raipur for an emergency meeting, local TV channels reported.
Sukma is part of the Naxalite stronghold in Chhattisgarh and this is not the first such attack in Sukma district.
Some 12 personnel of the CRPF were killed in the same district early this year in a deadly Naxal ambush. That incident was reported in the dense forests near Kottacheru village, around 450 km away from the state capital of Raipur. It was one of the deadliest attacks on security forces.
After that deadly attack, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said that it was a sign of "frustration" of the Naxalites because of the "unprecedented success" of the security operations against them.
"Last year, 135 extremists were killed, 700 were arrested, 1,198 surrendered, and there was a 15 percent drop in the number of Naxalite attacks," the minister had told the Parliament.
Initially the Naxalite movement had its center in the eastern state of West Bengal. Subsequently, it spread into less developed areas of rural southern and eastern India, such as Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Source: Xinhua