Maoist rebel commander dies in battle

Security forces killed a top Maoist commander and two other rebels in a gun battle yesterday, officials said, as Delhi intensifies efforts to crush the decades-long conflict.

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India is waging an all-out offensive against the last remaining traces of the Naxalite rebellion, named after the village in the foothills of the Himalayas where the Maoist-inspired guerrilla movement began nearly six decades ago. More than 12,000 rebels, soldiers and civilians have been killed since a handful of villagers rose up against their feudal lords there in 1967.