Indian security forces kill 31 Maoist rebels

Indian security forces have killed 31 Maoist rebels in the forests of Chhattisgarh state.

Two Indian commandos were also killed in the battle, and two other security force members were wounded, police said.

Chhattisgarh has seen a long-running insurgency by Maoists who say they are fighting for the rights of the poor.

Sunday's clashes were among the deadliest clashes since the government ramped up efforts to crush the insurgency, which has been running since the 1960s.

"So far 31 dead bodies of the Maoists have been recovered," senior police officer Sundarraj Pattilingam said.

The death toll could rise as police carry out operations in the area, he said.

Police said they had seized assault rifles and grenade launchers from the bodies of the dead rebels.

The clashes took place in the forests of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh.

Amit Shah, India's interior minister, who says the government expects to crush the rebellion by 2026, said the operation had been a "big success".

The rebels are inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. They claim to be fighting for communist rule and greater rights for tribal people and the rural poor.

The insurgency began in West Bengal state in the late 1960s and has since spread to more than a third of India's 600 districts.

The rebels control large areas of several states in a "red corridor" stretching from north-east to central India.

Major military and police offensives in recent years have pushed the rebels back to their forest strongholds and levels of violence have fallen.

But clashes between security forces and rebels are still common, killing scores of people every year.

A crackdown by security forces killed around 287 rebels last year - the vast majority in Chhattisgarh - according to government data. More than 10,000 people are believed to have died since the 1960s.