New Delhi   -   Indian security forces shot dead at least 23 Maoist rebels on Friday during a firefight, days after the country’s home minister warned the insurgents to surrender or face “all-out” assault.

More than 10,000 people have died in a decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement in India’s resource-rich tribal heartlands.  Friday’s gunfight took place a remote part of the central state of Chhattisgarh, the heartland of the rebel movement, which claims to be fighting on behalf of downtrodden rural and tribal communities.  Narayanpur district police superintendent Prabhat Kumar told AFP that a “confirmed number” of 23 rebels had been killed, but that the toll could be as high as 30.  “There is (a) minor injury to one guy on our side,” he added, saying that the wounded man had been evacuated by helicopter and was now safe. The skirmish took place in Abujhmad forest, a remote and sparsely inhabited area of southern Chhattisgarh. Kumar said the joint operation between police and other branches of India’s security forces was still ongoing.