Maoist leader killed by Indian security forces

Nov 25, 2011, 8:46 GMT

New Delhi - Security forces in eastern India have killed a high-ranking Maoist rebel, officials said Friday.

Koteshwar Rao, commonly known as Kishanji, was number three in the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), and had been in hiding for more than three decades.

Rao, 54, was killed in a gunfight with the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force in West Bengal state on Thursday, Home Ministry spokeswoman Ira Joshi said.

Three other rebels were also killed in the half-hour clash in the Burishol forests of the district of West Midnapore.

'It is a huge setback to the Maoists,' Home Secretary RK Singh said.

The rebel's 85-year-old mother alleged that the incident had been staged to make it seem as though Rao was killed in open combat, and said she would file a petition against the security forces, local news outlets reported.

Indian leaders have described the left-wing insurgency as the greatest internal security threat currently facing India.

The rebels, operating in some of India's poorest regions, claim they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and the landless.

Nearly 5,500 civilians, security personnel and rebels have been killed in violence associated with the movement since 2005, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal website.