Maoists blast police van in Orissa, 24 killed

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - At least 24 policemen were killed when a landmine exploded under a security vehicle in Orissa on Wednesday, in an attack police blamed on Maoist rebels.

The attack, in the remote Malkangiri district, comes a fortnight after the rebels sank a police boat and killed 38 officers of an elite anti-insurgency unit in the same area.

"All 24 police personnel are dead," officer Sujeet Naik told Reuters, blaming the strike on rebels who are known to be strong in the forested region.

Police said the Maoists had stepped up violence in response to a security campaign in the area.

Maoist rebels regularly kill police and attack government establishments and factories across large swathes of eastern and central India, particularly in the countryside.

They say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless, an insurgency Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as the single biggest threat to India's internal security. It has killed thousands of people in the past four decades.