India: Maoist rebels killed 15 paramilitaries in western India's Maharashtra province yesterday by detonating an improvised explosion device under their bus, writes RAHUL BEDI in New Delhi.
The strike on the Central Police Reserve Force in remote Gadchiroli district, some 1,000km (620 miles) from the state capital Mumbai, also injured 25 security personnel, many of them seriously, and officials feared the death toll could rise.
The attack was the deadliest by the left-wing rebels, who claim inspiration from Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
Yesterday’s attack follows the kidnapping of two Italians and a local legislator in eastern Orissa state in separate incidents earlier this month. One of the abducted Italians was released over the weekend, but the other two remain in Maoist custody.
Before the kidnappings – the first by the Maoists which have targeted foreigners – security officials assumed that because of police and paramilitary pressure they were on the run.
But senior federal security officials said yesterday’s attack only reinforced their belief that they were merely regrouping before continuing to perpetuate their “red terror” across central, eastern and western India.
Since the late 1960s the Maoists have tapped successfully into growing resentment among India’s rural poor and vast tribal population over exploitation by a corrupt administration.