Indian officials say a top commander of the country's Maoist rebels
has been killed in eastern India.
Koteswar Rao, known as Kishenji, was reportedly shot dead Thursday
during a gunbattle in a forest in the West Midnapore district of West
Bengal.
Rao was wanted for the killing of a number of police officers.
Indian Home Secretary R.K. Singh said Rao's killing is a "huge
setback" for the Maoists, nothing that he was number three in the
rebel group's hierarchy.
Maoist rebels, known as Naxalites or Naxals, have infiltrated more
than 20 Indian states.
Indian leaders have referred to Naxalism as the country's biggest
internal security threat. The groups include some of the country's
most extreme poor, who say they are struggling against
state-sanctioned acquisition of their land and natural resources.
Thousands of civilian and police deaths in India are blamed on Naxal
attacks since the groups emerged in the late 1960s.---VOA News
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