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Maoists kill eight in eastern
India
Ranchi—Suspected Maoist rebels ambushed and set ablaze a civilian
vehicle on Tuesday in eastern India, killing all eight people on
board, police said.
The attack took place in a forested area of Gumla district, 170
kilometres from Jharkhand state capital Ranchi, said police
spokesman Raj Kumar Mallik.
“In the ambush, all the eight persons travelling in the vehicle were
injured. After injuring them, the Maoist rebels set the vehicle on
fire and all of them died.”
The victims were members of the civilian “Shanti Sena,” or “Peace
Force,” created by authorities more than two decades ago to counter
Maoist rebels.
Maoists are active in 18 of the 24 districts of the state, where
more than 1,000 people — civilians, security personnel and rebels —
have been killed in the past seven years.
The Maoist insurgency, which grew out of a peasant uprising in 1967,
has spread to 15 of India’s 29 states from four in 1996.—AFP
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