Ten killed in Maoist-hit central India

Four policemen died in a Maoist landmine attack in central India and six rebels were killed in a shoot-out, officials said yesterday, as government troops prepare to tackle a growing insurgency.
The police officers were killed on Sunday about 450 kilometres (280 miles) from Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh state, which is a stronghold of the left-wing rebels, superintendent Ambrish Mishra told AFP.
In a separate incident, police said they shot dead six suspected rebels and recovered a cache of weapons and explosives in a nearby district.
Government and paramilitary forces are preparing for a major operation to take on the Maoists in the densely forested Chhattisgarh region.
The Maoists, known as Naxals in India, have vowed to fight back by unleashing a "tornado" of violence.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the insurgency, which began as a peasant uprising in 1967, as the single greatest threat to India's internal security.