12 Maoists killed in govt attack

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KOLKATA, June 17 (AFP): Indian security forces killed 12 Maoists, including three women, in the latest of a series of raids against rebel strongholds in the east of country, officials said today.
The government launched a major offensive last year to tackle the worsening left-wing insurgency, but since then the Maoists have hit back with bloody strikes including the massacre of 76 policemen in April.
The latest rebel deaths occurred late Wednesday when commandos and paramilitary special forces acting on a tip-off targeted about 45 Maoists gathered in a village in the Midnapore district of West Bengal state.