10 Maoist rebels, trooper killed in eastern India

SAN

New Delhi, 15 June 2010: Police in India said 10 Maoist rebels were killed in a security offensive in the eastern state of Jharkhand, news reports said Monday.

Eight rebel camps were destroyed Sunday during the ongoing campaign in the Borahat jungle which involved 2,000 paramilitaries and police, the NDTV network reported.

A trooper was also killed in the clash while six injured security personnel were airlifted a hospital in state capital Ranchi, the PTI news agency said.

 

 

The forces mounted Operation Green Hawk to target an estimated 900 militants hiding in Borahat, which is located in West Singhbhum district some 160 kilometres south of Ranchi.

Police said they had launched a search operation for the escaping Maoists.

’We are also making arrangements to prevent attacks. We will guard our vantage points and special attention will be on protecting trains passing through region,’ state police chief Neyaz Ahmed said.

The forces recovered a large cache of explosives, arms and ammunition from the camps.

The government has been under increasing pressure amid an upsurge of deadly attacks by Maoists since April.

The Maoists claim they are fighting for the rights of tribal, landless and poor people and usually target government installations and police officials.

Nearly 1,500 people have been killed since January 2009 in violence linked to the insurgency, which Prime Minster Manmohan Singh called the gravest internal threat facing India.