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RAIPUR, India, Jan 21, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Indian security forces shot dead at 
least 14 Maoist rebels, including a top commander, on Tuesday in what the 
interior minister said was one of the heaviest bouts of recent fighting.

The interior ministry said the commander killed was a leader known as Jairam 
or Chalpati, who had a $115,000 bounty on his head.

New Delhi has stepped up efforts to end the decades-long conflict. Tuesday's 
clashes follow the killing of 12 Maoists on January 16, also in the 
guerrillas' heartlands in the forests of India's Chhattisgarh state.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the decades-long insurgency waged 
by the rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalised 
people in India's resource-rich central regions.

Around 287 rebels were killed in 2024, according to official figures.

The rebels, also known as Naxalites after the district where their armed 
campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao 
Zedong.

"Another mighty blow to Naxalism," Interior Minister Amit Shah said in a 
statement, confirming that 14 rebels had been "neutralised".

Shah, who has set a deadline of March 2026 to defeat the rebels, said that 
"Naxalism is breathing its last".

Police said reinforcements had been sent to the area.

"Forces are still inside the forest," said Vivekananda Sinha, head of 
Chhattisgarh's anti-Maoist operation.

The Maoists demand land, jobs and a share of the region's immense natural 
resources for local residents.

They made inroads in a number of remote communities across India's east and 
south, and the movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s.

New Delhi then deployed tens of thousands of troops in a stretch of territory 
known as the "Red Corridor".

The conflict has also seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces. A 
roadside bomb killed at least nine Indian troops this month.