Eight Police Officers Killed in Attack in India

At least eight policemen and a driver have been killed in a bomb blast carried out by Maoist rebels in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, police said on Monday.

The police vehicle in which the victims were travelling was hit by an explosion in the Bijapur district of the state on Monday, a police statement said.

This is the latest in a series of sporadic attacks on security forces in the province. There have also been frequent clashes between forces and insurgents.

Chhattisgarh and its neighboring states in central and eastern India have been affected by decades of Maoist insurgency.

The rebels, who are loyal to the communist ideology of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, have carried out ambushes from the jungle against the government, leading to frequent clashes and casualties on both sides.

Mao’s followers say they are fighting to give India’s poor farmers and landless laborers more control over their land and minerals, which they claim are currently being exploited by large mining companies.