By IANS
Raipur : Police have recovered 100 kg of explosives from a forest hideout of Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh, officials said Friday.
The explosives were seized late Thursday from a forest in Rajnandgaon district that borders Maharashtra.
"The explosives are very powerful and are basically used for making country-made bombs," Amit Kumar, Rajnandgaon district superintendent, told IANS.
Police sources said the seizure, said to be the biggest in the state, was carried out after the interrogation of a Maoist commander, Aitu, who was arrested July 3 with an AK-47 rifle and explosives.
"Recovering 100 kg explosives from a single place is a huge success for the police force. We believe the seized explosives are part of about the 20 tonnes of explosives looted by Maoists in February 2006 from an explosives depot of the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) in Dantewada district," a police officer said.
Thousands of people have been killed since the Maoists began their insurgency in 1967 from a village in West Bengal. Their activities have spread to at least 13 of India's states, with mineral-rich Chhattisgarh being the worst affected.