Indian Maoists ready their weapons as they take part in a training camp in a forested area of Bijapur District in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on July 8, 2012.
Maoist rebels have ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying local leaders and supporters of Indiaâ„¢s ruling Congress party in a tribal belt of central India, killing at least 17 people and injuring dozens others.
“We can confirm 17 deaths. Among those who have been killed are five policemen. The rest are all leaders of the state Congress unit,” Rajinder Kumar Vij, the chief of anti-Maoist operations of Chhattisgarh state, said on Saturday.
Vij added that Chhattisgarh state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son were abducted during the attack, which was carried out in a densely forested area of Jagdalpur district, 284 kilometers from the state capital, Raipur.
Vidya Charan Shukla, a former cabinet minister, was critically injured in the attack. He is fighting for his life in hospital.
According to police officials and media reports, the attackers blocked the road by felling trees and detonated a bomb that blew up one of the vehicles in the convoy. The rebels then fired indiscriminately at the Indian National Congress leaders and their supporters.
The Maoist rebels, who are known as Naxalites, have been fighting against New Delhi for over four decades, demanding land and jobs for landless peasants and the poor.
The rebel movement, which was inspired by Chinese leader Mao Zedong, began in 1967 in the West Bengal village of Naxalbari. The rebels take their name from Naxalbari.
President of the Indian National Congress Sonia Gandhi condemned the “shocking” incident.
“Naturally we are devastated… It is despicable that ordinary people engaged in political activity were attacked,” she told a news conference in New Delhi after holding an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
GJH/AS
This article originally appeared on: Press TV