Updated

Women wailed as Indian soldiers carried a flag-draped coffin holding the body of one of their colleagues killed this week in a deadly ambush by autonomy-seeking Maoist rebels.

The attack, which killed 25 soldiers, has raised fears that the five-decade insurgency is seeing a revival. This year is already becoming one of the bloodiest, with 72 soldiers killed in the rebel heartland of Chhattisgarh. By comparison, 36 were killed during all of last year.

The troops killed Monday had been having lunch along a road when they were ambushed by about 300 armed rebels.

As family members buried the dead Tuesday night, the government vowed to retaliate.