Latest news with #Narayanpur
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Indian forces kill leader of Maoist insurgency in sweeping crackdown on rebels
Indian forces have killed top Maoist leader Nambala Keshava Rao in the central state of Chhattisgarh, home minister Amit Shah confirmed. Rao, commonly known as Basavaraju, was the general secretary of the banned Communist Party of India Maoist, the most powerful Maoist insurgent group in the country. He was one of 27 rebels killed in a gunfight with security forces in the forests of the Narayanpur region. One police officer also died in the operation. Mr Shah noted that Rao was the first Maoist leader of such high rank to be killed in nearly 30 years. The home minister hailed the operation as a landmark success, while prime minister Narendra Modi praised the forces for the 'remarkable' outcome. Maoist rebels, who started their insurgency in the late 1960s and control swathes of what is known as the 'red corridor' in central India, have long claimed to represent indigenous tribal communities neglected by the state and exploited by private corporations seeking to extract natural resources from their ancestral lands. The Indian government has pledged to dismantle the movement entirely by March 2026. A sweeping security crackdown in recent months has reportedly led to dozens of arrests and surrenders. The Maoist conflict has reportedly claimed over 10,000 lives so far, although violence has declined in recent years. Rao, India's most-wanted Maoist rebel with a Rs 1.5 crore (£130,000) bounty on his head, was the ideological architect and strategic mastermind behind some of the deadliest Maoist attacks in the country, according to local media. Rao was born in 1955 in the southern Andhra Pradesh state and graduated with an engineering degree from NIT Warangal before joining the People's War Group, a Maoist faction that later merged into the Communist Party of India Maoist, in the early 1980s. He reportedly received guerrilla training from the Sri Lankan insurgent group LTTE. A key strategist for the Maoist rebel movement, he was accused of orchestrating several major attacks, such as the 2010 Dantewada massacre, the 2013 Jeeram Ghati ambush, and a 2003 assassination attempt on Andhra Pradesh 's then chief minister. Rao rose to become chief of the Maoist group in 2018, directing operations from underground while eluding intelligence agencies. His killing reportedly came after weeks of coordinated efforts tracking Maoist leaders in the dense forests at the junction of Narayanpur, Bijapur and Dantewada districts. 'A landmark achievement in the battle to eliminate Naxalism,' Mr Shah, the home minister, said. 'Today, in an operation in Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh, our security forces have neutralised 27 dreaded Maoists, including Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, the general secretary of CPI Maoist, topmost leader and backbone of the Naxal movement.'
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Top Maoist leader Basavaraju killed as India cracks down on rebels
A top Maoist leader has been killed fighting with Indian security forces in the central state of Chhattisgarh. Nambala Keshava Rao, who is also known by several alias, including Basavaraju, was among 27 rebels killed on Wednesday, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said. One police officer was also reported to have died in the fighting. According to Shah, it is the first time in three decades that a Maoist of Rao's seniority had been killed by government forces. Parts of Chhattisgarh have seen a long-running insurgency by the rebels, who say they have been neglected by governments for decades. The Indian government has vowed to end their insurgency by the end of March 2026. Rao, an engineer by training, was the general secretary of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) group. He was on the most wanted list of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) - India's counter-terrorism law enforcement body. Vivekanand Sinha, a senior police official in Chhattisgarh, said the gunfight in which Rao and the others died, broke out in the Narayanpur district following an intelligence tip-off that senior Maoist leaders were in the area. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X that he was "proud of our forces for this remarkable success".Last month, the Indian government launched a massive military operation - known as Black Forest - targeting the group. Shah said on Wednesday that 54 rebels had been arrested so far, and 84 had surrendered in the states of Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Maharashtra, as a result. The operation was launched after the Maoists said they were ready for talks with the government if it halted its offensive and withdrew its troops. Chhattisgarh officials said any dialogue must be unconditional. The Maoists are inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. Their insurgency began in West Bengal state in the late 1960s and has since spread to more than a third of India's 600 rebels control large areas of several states in a "red corridor" stretching from north-east to central military and police offensives in recent years have pushed the rebels back to their forest strongholds and levels of violence have clashes between security forces and rebels are still common, killing scores of people every year.A crackdown by security forces killed around 287 rebels last year - the vast majority in Chhattisgarh - according to government data. More than 10,000 people are believed to have died since the 1960s.
Jordan Times
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Jordan Times
Indian troops kill at least 25 Maoist rebels: police
An Indian army soldier stands guard in Poonch sector of India's Jammu region, on May 20, 2025 (AFP photo) RAIPUR, India — Indian commandos shot dead at least 25 Maoist rebels in central India on Wednesday, police said, as security forces ramp up efforts to crush the long-running conflict. India is waging an all-out offensive against the last vestiges 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 died since a handful of villagers rose up against their feudal lords there in 1967. At its peak in the mid-2000s, the rebellion controlled nearly a third of the country with an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 fighters. "Over 25 Maoists were killed in an encounter," senior Chhattisgarh state police official Vivekanand Sinha told AFP. The firefight broke out deep inside a forest in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district, a remote and densely wooded region that has long served as a Maoist stronghold. Sinha said the gun battle took place after intelligence reports indicated the presence of "top Maoist leaders" in the area. But Sinha said it was not clear who exactly had been killed. "The bodies have not yet been identified," Sinha said. India's Home Minister Amit Shah has said the government is committed to "eradicating Naxalism from its roots" by March 31 next year. Earlier this month, police said they had killed 31 Maoist rebels during a three-week operation aimed at capturing a strategic hill range previously under the control of guerrillas. A crackdown by Indian troops has killed more than 400 rebels since last year, according to government data.
