Maoist rebels kill 6 in restive eastern India

Published November 17, 2014

Maoist rebels shot and killed at least six people Friday in restive eastern India, accusing them of being police informants, police said.

The guerrillas dragged the villagers from their homes and killed them in Bagbinda, a village 170 miles (270 kilometers) northwest of Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal state, said Sunil Kumar Chowdhury, a superintendent of police.

The gunmen abducted a seventh person and then fled, he said.

The guerrillas, inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting the government in eastern India for more than four decades, demanding land and jobs for the poor. Their presence has spread as they have tapped into anger among the rural poor left out of India's economic gains.

On Friday, the villagers found six bodies with bullet wounds on a farm and Maoist pamphlets saying that those attacked were police informers harming the rebels, Chowdhury told The Associated Press.

The victims belonged to the Forward Bloc, a communist partner of the ruling front in West Bengal state, Chowdhury said.

Police were looking for a villager taken away by the attackers, Chowdhury said.

The village borders areas considered to be a Maoist stronghold in nearby Jharkhand state.

The rebels are now present in 20 of India's 28 states and have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, according to the Home Ministry. About 2,000 people — including police, militants and civilians — have been killed in violence over the past few years.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has often described the Maoist rebels as India's biggest internal security challenge.

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