04.04.2025 – (04:30 PM) Htate See

The February 9 clash, one of the deadliest since the Indian government stepped up its crackdown on a long-running insurgency, left 31 Maoist rebels and two Indian commandos dead.

Two Indian commandos were killed and two more security personnel were wounded in the clash, police said.

The decades-long insurgency has killed more than 10,000 people, and the rebels are fighting for the rights of marginalized people in India’s resource-rich central region.

“The bodies of 31 Maoist rebels have been recovered,” senior police officer Sandar Raje told AFP.

“Two security personnel were killed and two others were injured,” he added.

He warned that the death toll could rise as local forces were deployed and police were conducting search operations.

“More forces have been rushed to the spot,” he said.

Police said they recovered assault rifles and ammunition from the bodies of the dead militants.

The gunfight took place in a dense forest area in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district.

The Maoist rebels, who adopted the ideology of communism spread by the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, have waged a guerrilla war against the government.

The fighting has been raging in central and eastern India, particularly in the past few decades.

“The defeat of the Maoist insurgents is a major achievement in our drive to create a more insurgent-free India,” said Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shah said last year that the government hoped to crush the insurgency by 2026.