Indian forces claim to have killed top Maoist commander

[News_Editor]

Indian forces claim to have killed top Maoist commander

2011-11-25 11:16:38 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW DELHI (BNO NEWS) -- Indian officials on Thursday said a top Maoist commander was killed during a gun battle with security forces in the eastern state of West Bengal, Press Trust of India reported.

The body of 58-year-old Molajula Koteswar Rao, better known as Kishanji, was found and identified after a gun battle in a forest in West Midnapore district. The encounter happened when security forces surrounded the area after receiving specific information about the presence of Kishanji and some of his associates.

Officials said Kishanji's body was identified by the AK-47 rifle he was carrying, but gave no other details. Indian Home Secretary R.K. Singh said that the reported killing of Kishanji is a "huge setback" for the Maoists as he was number three in their hierarchy.

Earlier this month, Maoist rebels in West Bengal called off their ceasefire in a letter to the state government. The rebels said the state-appointed interlocutors and the state government led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee had not kept any of the promises they had made.

The rebels said they were willing to meet the interlocutors only if the state government completely halted anti-Maoist operations by the state and central police forces. They also slammed the interlocutors for favoring the government, saying that they have not criticized the "terror unleashed by the ruling party and security forces."

The Maoists had unilaterally declared on September 30 that they would maintain a ceasefire for the duration of one month to let peace talks take shape. The ceasefire started on October 3, but the state government never officially reacted to the proposal.

The ceasefire only applied to the eastern state of West Bengal as attacks continued in other regions. On October 21, six Indian policemen were killed and three others were injured in an ambush by Maoist rebels in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

More than one-third of India's 626 administrative districts are affected by the Maoist insurgency. At least 1,170 rebels, troops and civilians were killed in insurgency-related incidents in 2010 alone. The Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of tribal, landless and poor people in the country's poorest regions.

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