RAIPUR – Indian security forces have killed five Maoist rebels in jungle clashes, an officer said yesterday, as security forces seek to quash the decades-long insurgency in the resource-rich central regions.

Gun battles took place in the Abujhmad forests of Chhattisgarh state on Saturday, taking the toll of the conflict in 2024 to around 200, one of the highest in years.

More than 10 000 people have died in the insurgency against the Maoists – known as the Naxalite movement, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalised indigenous people.
“In the gun battle, five Maoists were killed,” senior police officer P. Sunderraj told AFP, adding that two of the rebels were women.

The clash took place in regions bordering Kanker and Narayanpur, with police seizing rifles and ammunition from the corpses.
Two officers were wounded in the clash.
India’s government has warned the insurgents to surrender, with Amit Shah, the interior minister, saying in September that he expected the rebellion to be defeated by early 2026.

The Naxalites, named for the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

They demanded land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for the local people, and made inroads in a number of remote communities.
India claimed to have confined the insurgency to about 45 districts in 2023, down from 96 in 2010.

Authorities have pumped in millions of dollars for new investments in local infrastructure projects and social spending. 

– Nampa/AFP