RAIPUR, India, June 29, 2010 (AFP) - Maoist rebels killed 26 police officers in an ambush in central India on Tuesday, police said, in the latest of a series of deadly strikes against security forces.
The targeted group were returning from a road-opening ceremony when they were attacked by a large number of heavily armed militants, Ram Niwas, the head of anti-Maoist operations in the state of Chhattisgarh, said.
The Maoists, who massacred 76 policemen in Chhattisgarh in a similar assault in April, numbered as many as 100 and opened fire with automatic weapons from a hilltop.
The officers were surrounded in the ambush, which took place in Dhodai, 300 kilometres (190 miles) south of the state capital Raipur, and they fought back in a gun battle that lasted three hours, Niwas said.
"At least 26 security forces were killed and several injured," he said, adding that some of the wounded were evacuated by helicopter and reinforcements had been sent to the area.
The government launched a major offensive last year to tackle the worsening left-wing insurgency, but since then the Maoists have hit back -- triggering widespread criticism of officials and politicians.
Maoist rebel groups have fought for decades throughout east and central India against state and government rule, drawing support from landless tribal groups and farmers left behind by the country's economic development.
In the last major attack by suspected Maoists, one month ago 146 people were killed when a Mumbai-bound passenger train from Kolkata was derailed by saboteurs in a remote part of West Bengal state.
The express veered into the path of an oncoming freight train after a section of track was removed.
Last month a Maoist landmine in Chhattisgarh hit a bus, killing 24 civilians and 11 police personnel, while 25 officers were also killed in February when Maoists overran a security camp in West Bengal state.
The scale of recent rebel strikes has highlighted the government's struggle to find an effective strategy against the Maoists, with ministers coming under severe pressure to clamp down on the violence.
As the attacks have worsened, calls have grown for the army and air force to be drafted in.
But until now, the government has insisted that paramilitary and state police forces were capable of flushing the Maoists out of their jungle bases.
Analysts say the government is hamstrung by internal disagreement, with some urging a more aggressive policy and others favouring a long-term strategy to addresses the plight of impoverished tribespeople and farmers.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram is seen as belonging to the former camp, while his ruling Congress party chief, Sonia Gandhi, has stressed the need to combat the "root causes" of the insurgency.
"There is a conflict between the so-called hawks who want to crush the rebels and the so-called doves who call for development in Maoist-dominated areas to wean away their support," Ajai Sahani, a counter-terrorism expert, told AFP recently.
Military chiefs have made it clear that they are opposed to involving the armed forces in any direct combat operations.
Little is known about the Maoists' structure, but their current strength is estimated at between 10,000-20,000 guerrillas, who operate out of jungle camps where they undergo weapons and ideological training.
Security forces say their principal sources of funding are from abductions, extortion and looting. They have also set up unofficial administrations in some rural areas to collect taxes.
