Maoists kill 23 policemen in Chhattisgarh attack

RAIPUR, India (Reuters) - At least 23 policemen, including a district police chief were killed by Maoist insurgents in Chhattisgarh during routine patrolling on Sunday, police said.

"They (police) drove into a trap laid by Maoists in a thickly forested area," Girdhari Nayak, a top police officer, told Reuters in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh.

"At least 23 policemen were killed."

The attack took place in Rajnandgaon district, which borders Maharashtra, and police said they had undertaken a combing operation to trace the insurgents.

Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers, are expanding their influence in east, central and southern India.

Thousands have been killed in the insurgency which began in the late 1960s and which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as a grave threat to India's internal security.