RAIPUR, India, Sept 3, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Indian police killed at least nine

Maoist rebels during a gunfight on Tuesday, officials said, with security
forces still searching the forest for more remains and weapons.

The clash is the latest in India's long-running Maoist insurgency that began
in the 1960s and has cost tens of thousands of lives.

The battle took place in Bailadila mountain range in the central Indian state
of Chhattisgarh, Deputy Inspector General of Police Kamal Lochan Kashyap told
AFP.

"Authorities have recovered automatic, semi-automatic and other weapons," he
added.

Kashyapthe said the bodies of nine rebels had been recovered and that
security forces were still searching the forest for more remains and weapons.

The government has deployed tens of thousands of forces to battle the rebels
across the insurgent-dominated region known as the "Red Corridor", which
stretches across several central, southern and eastern states.

Last month, a dozen rebels were killed in Chhattisgarh state's Gadchiroli
area, one of the dozens of Maoist hotbeds in the mineral-rich region.

India has invested millions of dollars into infrastructure development and
mineral extraction in the remote areas, dominated by tribal communities.

The government claims to have confined the insurgency to 45 districts in
2023, down from 96 in 2010.