Spotlight: Death toll of Indian paramilitary troopers in Naxal attack rises to 26, Modi expresses grief

The death toll of India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in a Naxalite attack Monday rose to 26 in Chhattisgarh state, officials said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the attack "cowardly" and said his government was closely monitoring the situation in the state.

"Attack on CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh is cowardly and deplorable. We are monitoring the situation closely," Modi said. "We are proud of the valor of our CRPF personnel. The sacrifice of the martyrs will not go in vain."

At least 26 CRPF personnel were killed and several others wounded, some of them critically, after Naxals attacked them during the day near Chintagufa in Sukma district, about 398 km south of Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh.

"We have lost 26 men in the gunfight," a senior CRPF official M Dinakaran told media. "The wounded personnel have been evacuated by helicopters and condition of few of them is stated to be critical."

India's junior minister for home affairs Hansraj Ahir has been sent to Chhattisgarh to assess the situation.

"Extremely pained to know about the killing of CRPF personnel in Sukma. My tributes to the martyrs and condolences to their families," Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said.

The wounded CRPF troopers told media they were outnumbered by the Naxals.

"First Naxals sent villagers to trace our location, then almost 300 Naxals attacked us," local media quoted a wounded CRPF trooper, Sher Mohammed, as saying. "We also fired and killed many. They were around 300 and we were around 150, we kept firing. I shot three to four Naxals in the chest."

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh cut short his visit to New Delhi and rushed back to Raipur for an emergency meeting in wake of the deadly attack. Singh visited the wounded paramilitary troopers in hospital, officials said.

Following the attack helicopters of Indian Air Force were pressed into service to carry wounded and slain paramilitary troopers from the area.

Officials said they have rushed reinforcements of police and CRPF to the area to take on Naxals there.

"Since it's a far flung area, further details are awaited," the official said. "As of now we don't know about the casualties of Naxals."

According to police, the CRPF men were on a routine patrol in the area to sanitize it for a road construction project. Reports said CRPF men were ambushed simultaneously at two different places in the area.

India's semi-official news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted a CRPF officer saying seven to eight personnel were missing following the attack.

Last month, 12 CRPF personnel were killed and five others wounded after Naxals ambushed them in the district. The Naxals later looted 10 service rifles from the slain troopers.

Earlier during the day, a major tragedy was averted after an improvised explosive device weighing 10 kg planted by Naxals was diffused by bomb disposal squad in neighboring Dantewada district.

Naxalites are also known as "Maoists."

Maoist insurgency has its genesis in the violent left-wing rebellion that began in 1967 at village Naxalbari in Indian state of West Bengal.

Currently Maoists are active in more than a third of India's 600-odd districts across central and eastern India.

New Delhi has deployed several companies of its paramilitary forces to take on Naxals in their strongholds.

The insurgency reportedly has claimed more than 6,000 lives and rendered thousands of poor inhabitants homeless.

In 2010, at least 76 men of CRPF were killed in Dantewada district, a deadliest attack so far in the state. Endit