LEAD: 13 policemen killed in rebel attack in eastern India

Jan 21, 2012, 11:20 GMT

New Delhi - At least 13 policemen were killed Saturday after Maoist rebels triggered a landmine blast and then opened fire on them in India's eastern state of Jharkhand, officials said.

The blast occurred when a van carrying the security officers was passing through the Bariganwa forests in the western district of Garhwa.

According to police, a group of 50 Maoists drew the police into an ambush and, after detonating the landmine, opened fire indiscriminately.

'Thirteen policemen were killed and two more were injured in the incident,' Jharkhand police chief GS Rath told reporters.

The policemen were en route to counter-insurgency operations in the region, considered a hotbed of Maoist activities.

Wounded policemen were airlifted to the state capital, Ranchi, for treatment. Additional security forces were rushed to the area to carry out search operations for the rebels.

The Maoist insurgency, which started in the 1960s, now affects more than one-third of India's 626 administrative districts.

The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of tribal, landless and poor people in some of India's most impoverished areas.

Saturday's attack was the first major Maoist attack on security forces in India this year.

Maoist-related violence witnessed a decline last year in Jharkhand and other Indian states most affected by the insurgency, with casualty figures dropping to 589, from more than 1,000 in 2010.

Last November, security forces also killed Maoist leader, Koteshwar Rao, number three in seniority in the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) who had been in hiding for more than three decades.