Twelve paramilitary policemen were killed and six others injured in an ambush by suspected Maoist rebels in central India, police said Monday.
"About 40 to 50 personnel were on a patrol when some were caught in an ambush," Vishwa Ranjan, police director general of Chhattisgarh state, told AFP in local capital Raipur.
The gunfire took place in remote forests of the state's Bijapur district.
The rebels have a significant presence in Chhattisgarh state, which is one of India's poorest.
The Maoist insurgency grew out of a peasant uprising in 1967 and has spread to over half of India's 29 states.
At least 834 people were killed in Maoist-related violence nationwide last year. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the rebels as the biggest threat to India's internal security.