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India-Pakistan
Indian troops re-take town from Maoists
2009-06-21
LALGARH, INDIA - Indian troops regained control on Saturday of a town captured by Maoists during a rebellion by the left-wing activists against West Bengal stateÂ’s communist rulers. Security personnel met little resistance as they moved into the key settlement of Lalgarh, 130 kilometres (80 miles) from Kolkata, Manoj Verma, police superintendent of West Midnapur district, told AFP by phone.

“Our forces have reached Lalgarh police station. It was a smooth march to Lalgarh through the forests,” he said.

About 1,800 state and federal troops have been deployed to quell the uprising that began one week ago when Maoists and tribal villagers went on the rampage against the stateÂ’s ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM). Police say 10 CPM activists had been killed by Thursday and that security camps and party offices had also been burnt down.

Praveen Kumar, a senior West Bengal police officer, said that clearing the whole area under rebel control — comprising hundreds of villages in more than 1,000 square kilometres (390 square miles) — would take time.

“It is a partial victory,” Kumar told reporters in Lalgarh on Saturday. “The 100 percent operation is yet to be completed. It may take days, even weeks to do this.”

The Maoist insurgency, which grew out of a peasant uprising in 1967, has hit 15 of IndiaÂ’s 29 states. The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribespeople and landless farmers.
Posted by:Steve White

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