Police say 10 Maoist rebels killed in raid in eastern India

The Maoists say they are fighting for communist rule and greater rights for tribal people. (AP)

PATNA: Police say they have killed at least 10 Maoist rebels in a raid on one of their strongholds in eastern India.
Senior police officer D.M. Awasthy says the police acting on intelligence raided the forested hideout in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh state early Friday.
He said police recovered 10 bodies and some arms and ammunition after an exchange of gunfire. The area is nearly 415 kilometers south of Raipur, the state capital.
The police casualties were not immediately known.
The government has called the insurgents inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong the country’s most serious internal security threat.
The rebels control vast swaths of area in central and eastern India.
In their deadliest attack, the rebels killed 76 paramilitary soldiers in Chhattisgarh state in 2010.