Maoists trap and kill 14 police in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Maoist rebels killed 14 policemen in an ambush in Chhattisgarh, officials said on Monday, the latest in a string of rebel violence that has marred part of India's general election.

Police said the rebels triggered blasts and shot at a security convoy that was searching for rebels on an intelligence tip but which turned out to be a trap.

"The heavily armed rebels first triggered multiple blasts and then opened indiscriminate fire from hilltops," Girdhari Nayak, a senior police officer, told Reuters.

Maoist rebel violence marred the initial phase of a staggered vote. They killed five election officials in a landmine blast and 11 police across the central and eastern "red belt".

The rebels, who have called for a boycott of the election, also blasted a railway station, blocked roads and briefly seized a train last month in a show of strength before allowing the passengers to go unharmed.

The Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and the landless.

Thousands have been killed in the Maoist insurgency in India which began in the late 1960s, and which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as one of the gravest threats to India's internal security.