94 Indian civilians killed by left-wing Naxalite rebels this year

Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-26 20:23:31|Editor: Zhou Xin
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NEW DELHI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government said on Wednesday that left-wing Naxalite rebels have killed as many as 94 civilians in the first half of this year suspecting them of working as police informers.

"Ninety-four civilians have been killed in 2017 by left-wing extremists," India's junior Home Minister Hansraj Ahir said in the parliament.

Claiming that those killed by Naxalites were accused of being police informers, the minister said that the rebels did torture before eliminating their enemies. "The methods of killing include shooting, multiple beatings and hacking with sharp weapons," he added.

Naxalite uprising began in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal's village of Naxalbari back in 1967.

Although this was eventually quashed by police, over the years the rebels have regrouped and asserted control over vast swathes of land in central and eastern India.

The Naxalites are active in more than a third of India's 600-odd districts across the eastern states of Jharkand, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, and the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

India's former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has declared Naxalites as the country's biggest internal security threat.

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