Maoist Attack Kills Dozens in India

NEW DELHI - Hundreds of Maoist guerrillas ambushed a convoy of top state political leaders in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Saturday and killed at least 27 people, including three leaders of the nationally dominant Indian National Congress Party.

India's former federal minister, Vidya Charan Shukla, 83, who was injured in Saturday's Maoist attack in a densely forested area, was brought to a hospital in Raipur, in Chhattisgarh State, on Sunday.

The attackers blocked the road by felling trees, forcing the convoy of vehicles to a halt, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. The guerrillas set off a land mine that blew up one of the stopped vehicles, and then they opened fire on those remaining. Officials estimated that 200 to 300 guerrillas were involved.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attack “as a dastardly and anti-democratic act,” and the Congress Party president, Sonia Gandhi, said the ambush was “an attack on democratic values.”

“We are shocked, astounded and pained by the attack on our colleagues in Chhattisgarh,” Mrs. Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi, Mrs. Gandhi's son and the Congress Party vice president, left for Chhattisgarh early Sunday, and the prime minister and Mrs. Gandhi were expected to follow him there later in the day.

Nand Kumar Patel, president of the state branch of the Congress Party, his newly married son, and Mahendra Karma, a senior member of the party, were all killed in the attack, said Mukesh Gupta, a top state police official.

The victims were headed to Jagdalpur from Sukma. The attack was in a heavily forested area between two valleys sometime between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., Mr. Gupta said.

Both party leaders had personal police bodyguards, many of whom died in the attack. Mr. Karma was even afforded a bulletproof vehicle, although he was not riding in the vehicle at the time, Mr. Gupta said. Similarly, Mr. Patel always had a heavy police presence around him.

Mr. Karma had long been a target of Maoist anger because of his association with Salwa Judum, a local militia he founded to combat the guerrillas but that was accused of atrocities against the local tribal population. Such tribal groups are among the most marginalized citizens in Indian society and constitute the backbone of the Maoist insurgency that has kindled across the eastern middle of the country.

The attack was one of the most audacious recent strikes by guerrillas. The number of attacks and the deaths associated with them surged in 2009 and 2010 but had waned in the past two years, with some hoping that the central government's growing welfare outreach - including food and jobs programs - had cut support for the insurgents.

Indeed, India's governing coalition touted last week the decline in Maoist attacks and deaths as one of its signature achievements.

The Maoists confiscated the weapons of the dead police officers and then fled, Mr. Gupta said. The wounded were taken to area hospitals. Troops have begun to comb the area for the guerrillas, Mr. Gupta said.

The prime minister called the Chhattisgarh chief minister Saturday night to ask whether he needed additional forces. As the two men are members of opposing parties, the state and national response to the attack is a delicate political dance. State leaders have gained considerable power in recent years at the expense of the central government. But security is one of the few areas in which the central government has become less deferential, promising to send in the army at the first sign of serious unrest or rioting.

A version of this article appeared in print on May 27, 2013, in The International Herald Tribune.