HYDERABAD, India - Indian police commandos shot dead five Maoist rebels, including three women, in the jungles of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on Friday, a senior police officer said. One of those killed in the forests of the northern district of Warangal was a maker of rockets and launchers, said the areaÂ’s top police officer, Stephen Ravindra.Acting on a tip-off, the commandos swooped down on a secret Maoist meeting and killed the extremists in a gunbattle, he added.
| That would be Mukkerjee the Weasel. |
Maoist rebels, who operate in at least nine Indian states, claim to fight for the rights of IndiaÂ’s impoverished peasants and landless labourers. The revolt has killed thousands of people in the last three decades, including at least 6,000 in Andhra Pradesh.