India: Maoist rebels kill 24 CRPF policemen in Chhattisgarh
Suspected Maoists have killed 24 policemen in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, in one of the biggest attacks by the rebels in recent years.
The officers were guarding road workers in the Sukma district, which has seen a long-running insurgency by Maoists.
The details of the attack are sketchy, but one report said it was carried out by 300 rebels.
The Maoists say they are fighting for communist rule and greater rights for tribal people and the rural poor.
Their insurgency began in the eastern state of West Bengal in the late 1960s, later spreading to more than one-third of India’s 600-plus administrative districts.