Indian Police Kill 29 Suspected Maoist Rebels in Gun Battle

Indian police killed at least 29 suspected Maoist rebels in a furious gun battle in the central state of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, just days before the country kicked off its massive presidential election.

The Indian Express reported that the counter-terrorism operation was launched after the police received a tip that senior members of the Maoist insurgency would be present in the remote and hilly Kanker district of Chhattisgarh. 

The state’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Border Security Force (BSF) formed a joint strike team and trooped through the hills by the dark of night, taking a long, circuitous route that allowed them to surround what they described as a “permanent camp” that the rebels established in early April. The rebels proved to be heavily armed with AK-47 rifles and light machine guns.

“The Maoists had no escape route; they knew they were trapped. They opened fire at us, and we retaliated. Three of our men suffered injuries, but we managed to avoid casualties because of meticulous planning,” one of the officers involved in the operation said.

“We knew they’d run for cover, and when they ran to protect themselves, they opened fire, and our teams retaliated with a heavy response, and the dense jungle turned into a battleground,” said one of the officers wounded in the attack.

At least 29 rebels were killed in the ensuing four-hour battle, 15 of them women. Two important divisional leaders of the rebel group were reportedly among the dead. Some of the casualties were suspected to be scouts who posed as villagers and lived in nearby communities, feeding intelligence to the rebel leaders.

Police officials described the encounter as the biggest operation against Maoist forces in three decades. The operation brought the total number of Maoists killed in 2024 up to 79, the highest total in five years. According to one police estimate, the militant Maoist wing of the banned Communist Party of India (CPI) has effectively been wiped out in Chhattisgarh.

India has been fighting the Maoist insurrection — also known as the “Naxalites,” in honor of the town called Naxalbari where the movement started — since the mid-1960s. The Maoist wing of the CPI was classified as a “group of concern” for terrorism by the U.S. State Department in 2006.

The Naxalites claim to represent the interests of poor rural Indians and members of marginalized tribes, including “untouchables” under the old Indian caste system. As seen with the Chhattisgarh raid, the rebels have been able to keep going for decades by securing assistance from rural villagers and hiding their camps in remote areas.

The territory controlled by Maoists in central and northeastern India, known as the “red corridor,” has contracted in recent years as aggressive police operations pushed rebel forces back into wilderness camps like the one raided on Tuesday.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday congratulated security forces for the successful operation in Chhattisgarh and promised the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would “free the country from the scourge of Naxalism.”

Shah described Maoist ideology as “the biggest enemy of development, peace, and bright future of youth.”

The Indian Express predicted the big victory against rebel forces would boost Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the parliamentary elections, which will be spread across the next six weeks due to India’s massive size. One of the areas near the site of the battle is scheduled to vote on Friday.

“Like every election season, Maoists in Abujhmad have asked villagers to boycott the electoral process, putting up posters and banners to spread the message,” the Indian Express noted.

Supriya Shrinate, national spokeswoman for the opposition Congress party, caused a stir on Wednesday by referring to the Maoists killed in Chhattisgarh as “martyrs.” Shrinate’s opposite number at the BJP, spokesman Shehzad Poonawalla, accused Congress of betraying the Indian people and jeopardizing national security in a desperate bid to harvest votes from Naxalite sympathizers.

“Congress leaders are advocating for Naxals, as they are losing in the elections. They are not hesitant to stand by terrorists while opposing Modi,” he said.