Maoists kill 8 Indian cops in Chhattisgarh

NEW DELHI: Maoist rebels killed eight Indian paramilitary troopers after detonating an explosive beneath their vehicle during a patrol in restive Chhattisgarh state, officials said Tuesday. The blast in a remote forest region also injured three others who were airlifted to state capital Raipur for treatment, a spokesman for India’s central reserve police force said. Left-wing guerrillas have for decades been fighting the Indian state, demanding land, jobs and other rights for poor tribal groups in a long-running insurgency believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives. Much action is focused around the rebel-dominated “Red Corridor” stretching through central and eastern India. India’s home minister Rajnath Singh described Tuesday’s attack as “deeply distressing” and wished those injured a speedy recovery. The deadly bombing followed an earlier attack by Maoist rebels on a unit of special police officers patrolling the forest.