At least four guerillas and one police officer were killed in Sunday’s clash between Indian security forces and Maoist rebels in their wooded heartland, according to police.
The decades-long insurgency led by Naxalite rebels, who claim to be defending the rights of marginalized indigenous people in India’s resource-rich central regions, has claimed the lives of over 10,000 people.
According to government data, 287 rebels were killed in 2024 as government forces increased their efforts to end the protracted armed conflict last year.
Late Saturday, fighting erupted in Chhattisgarh state’s Abujhmarh area, a crucial insurgency battleground.
“Four bodies of Maoists, who were in their battle uniform, have been recovered after an encounter with police forces,” police inspector general P. Sunderraj told AFP, adding one police constable had also been killed.
“Action is still on,” he said. Around 1,000 suspected Naxalites were arrested and 837 surrendered during 2024.
India’s interior minister, Amit Shah, stated in September that the administration hoped to put an end to the insurgency by early 2026 and urged the Maoist rebels to surrender or face a “all-out” attack.
In recent years, the insurgency’s territory has been significantly reduced.The Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong served as the inspiration for the Naxalites, who got their name from the region where their military struggle started in 1967.
They demanded land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents, and made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south.
The movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s when New Delhi deployed tens of thousands of security personnel against the rebels in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor”.
Authorities have since invested millions of dollars in local infrastructure and social projects to combat the Naxalite appeal.
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