RAJPUR: India's police said on Tuesday (Nov 18) its forces had killed a "dreaded" Maoist rebel commander responsible for one of the deadliest attacks by the guerrillas, along with five other insurgents.
New Delhi has vowed to end the decades-long insurgency entirely by March 31, 2026, with Tuesday's killing marking the latest in a series of reported victories against the shrinking rebel force.
Senior police officer Mahesh Chandra Laddha told reporters that Madvi Hidma (pic), a top Maoist commander, his wife Raje, and four other fighters were "killed in an encounter with police" in Andhra Pradesh state.
Ladda called Hidma the "most dreaded Maoist commander", who had a bounty of 10 million rupees (around US$110,000) on his head. Police also seized assault rifles, pistols and explosives.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hailed the operation, noting that Hidma had masterminded the April 2010 ambush in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, that killed 76 security personnel -- one of the worst massacres in India's recent history.
"Left-wing extremism is collapsing across the country, shrinking from 182 affected districts in 2013 to just 13 today," the Hindu nationalist BJP said in a statement.
India continues a determined campaign against the remnants of the Naxalite rebellion, named after the village in the Himalayan foothills where the Maoist-inspired insurgency began nearly six decades ago.
Police said the Maoist guerrillas had been moving south to escape the security net closing in on rebel bases in Chhattisgarh state.
More than 12,000 rebels, soldiers and civilians have been killed since a handful of villagers rose up against feudal landlords in 1967.
The insurgency controlled nearly a third of India at its peak in the mid-2000s, with 15,000 to 20,000 fighters. - AFP
