At least 26 paramilitary police personnel were killed in an ambush by Maoist rebels in central India today, dpa quoted officials as saying. A group of over 80 rebels opened fire on a team of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh state, federal Home Secretary GK Pillai told reporters in New Delhi. The Maoists opened fire from a hilltop when the paramilitary men were returning to their camp on foot through a forested area after opening a road blocked by the rebels, PTI news agency quoted CRPF chief Vikram Srivastava as saying. At least 26 policemen were killed in the ambush, Pillai said. He said all others in the team, comprising 63 men, had been accounted for and had returned to their camp. The injured had been airlifted to the nearest hospitals, Srivastava said. Narayanpur is among the 223 of India's 626 administrative districts in which the government says Maoists operate. The Maoists, who profess to represent tribal people, the poor and the landless, have been waging an armed struggle against the state. Since November, security forces have been targeting Maoist strongholds in at least four states. More than 1,500 people have been killed since January 2009 in violence linked to the Maoist insurgency, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the gravest internal threat facing India.
