NEW DELHI, Sept 17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - India's Maoist rebels announced Tuesday that they will be unilaterally suspending their "armed struggle" and are ready for dialogue with authorities, following the government's all-out offensive to crush the decades-long conflict.

"Because of the changed world order and national situation, and because of the continuous appeals from the Prime Minister, Home Minister, and senior police officials, we are deciding to suspend armed struggle," a spokesman for the Communist Party of India (Maoist) rebel group said in a statement.

"We are ready to start dialogue" with the government, added the spokesman, Abhay, who uses only one name.

There was no immediate government response to the Maoist announcement.

India is waging an intense offensive against the last remaining traces of the Naxalite rebellion, named after the village in the foothills of the Himalayas where the Maoist-inspired guerrilla movement began nearly six decades ago.

More than 12,000 rebels, soldiers and civilians have been killed since a handful of villagers rose up against their feudal lords there in 1967.

Abhay's statement, issued in Hindi, added the group was "committed" to peace initiatives and "that despite evolving national and global circumstances, we will keep engaging with leaders and influential organisations."

In recent months, the Indian government has issued repeated warnings that it intends to finish off the Maoist rebellion by the end of March next year.

On Monday, government forces killed a high-ranking "Naxal Commander" who had a bounty of around $113,000 issued by authorities for his capture.

The group's chief, Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, was killed during a firefight with government forces in May, along with 26 other guerrillas.

In the mid-2000s, at the movement's peak, the rebels, who counted some 15,000 to 20,000 members, controlled nearly a third of the country.

But the rebellion has been significantly weakened in recent years with more than 400 rebels killed since last year, including some of the group's top commanders.