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Rebels kill 23 in Indian blast | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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New Delhi-Suspected Maoist guerrillas triggered a bomb blast in the eastern Indian state of Chhatisgarh late Saturday, killing 23 paramilitary soldiers, police told CNN.

The incident happened at 7 p.m. local time Saturday as a patrol of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force was returning from an anti-guerrilla operation in nearby Bijpaur, an officer in the district headquarters town of Dantewada said Sunday.

The officer, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, described the explosion as massive and said it left a crater some 15 feet (5 meters) deep. The vehicle in which the soldiers were traveling was broken in half, he said. Three soldiers, including the commandant of the battalion, were wounded in the explosion.

Officials blamed the People”s War Group, an outlawed ultra-leftist extremist group, for the attack.