--- title: India: Police in Orissa Reportedly Kill 18 Maoist Rebels description: Security forces in the eastern state of Orissa say they have killed 18 Maoist rebels following an ambush on the border with Andhra Pradesh. canonical: https://time.com/4542254/india-orissa-police-kill-rebels/ author: Dominique Rowe article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-24T10:18:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:22:03.204Z article:section: World og:title: Indian Police Kill 18 Maoist Rebels in Orissa og:description: Police say they ambushed members of the insurgent group on Monday og:url: https://time.com/4542254/india-orissa-police-kill-rebels/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Indian Police Kill 18 Maoist Rebels in Orissa twitter:description: Police say they ambushed members of the insurgent group on Monday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Police in the East Indian State of Orissa Say They Have Killed 18 Maoist Rebels by [Dominique Rowe](/author/dominique-rowe/) ## Dominique Rowe Oct 24, 2016 10:18 AM CUT by [Dominique Rowe](/author/dominique-rowe/) ## Dominique Rowe Oct 24, 2016 10:18 AM CUT Indian Security forces in the eastern state of Orissa say they have [killed at least ](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37749197 "undefined")18 Maoist rebels following a forest ambush on the border with Andhra Pradesh. Orissa’s Chief of Police A.B. Singh told the BBC that a prominent Maoist leader was among those killed in the Monday morning ambush in which several other insurgents were reportedly injured but escaped. Two police officers were reportedly injured in the ensuing gun battle. Since its beginnings in the eastern state of West Bengal in the late 1960s, the Maoist insurgency has spread to over a third of the country’s 626 administrative districts, according to the BBC. About 7,000 have died as a result of the armed campaign between 2005 and 2016, Agence France-Presse [reports](https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/32989869/india-police-kill-at-least-18-maoists-in-shoot-out/ "undefined"). The Maoist rebels say they are seeking better treatment of workers and the poor, as well as improved land rights for indigenous tribes. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37749197 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4542254/india-orissa-police-kill-rebels/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4542254/india-orissa-police-kill-rebels/"},"headline":"Police in the East Indian State of Orissa Say They Have Killed 18 Maoist Rebels","datePublished":"2016-10-24T10:18:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:22:03.204Z","description":"The Maoists insurgency in India has been ongoing since the 1960s","url":"https://time.com/4542254/india-orissa-police-kill-rebels/","keywords":["India"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dominique Rowe","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dominique-rowe/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4542254/india-orissa-police-kill-rebels/","name":"Police in the East Indian State of Orissa Say They Have Killed 18 Maoist Rebels"}}]}] ```