Maoist rebels kill 60 troops in eastern India

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: AP

Maoist rebels killed at least 60 paramilitary soldiers in attacks Tuesday in eastern India, a senior police official said, the most casualties since government forces launched an offensive against the insurgents last year.

At least 81 troops were part of a patrol party that came under attack in the rebel stronghold of Dantewada early Tuesday morning, R.K. Vij, the inspector general of state police said.

He said 60 bodies of the soldiers killed in at least two attacks had been recovered so far, and fighting between was continuing in the remote and heavily forested area. Eight wounded troops were also found.

Three soldiers were killed in an ambush and 17 others were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a land mine, Vij said.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h_lCZKTbGKxncfOoL-5QNNYiUZlwD9ETFOE00

[bemildred]

1. Damn, they got chewed up badly. nt

[Flaneur]

2. 10,000 to 20,000 Maoist soldiers in the insurgency.

They're in 20 of 28 Indian states, and they've been at it since 1967.

Also known as the Naxalites.

[David__77]

4. That's just the core of full-time fighters.

And only the ones attached to the main Maoist group. There are many smaller Naxalite groups. And the CPI-Maoist has tens of thousands more in the irregular local militias. A new state power is really emerging for the first time since the armed struggle started in 1967.

[iwearshoesinky]

3. Really great article for anyone to read

Granted it's a little slanted but helps provide prospective to this conflict. When indigenous people are displaced by a democracy and have no recourse, is their violence justified?

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/22-walking-with-the-comrades-aj-07