NEW DELHI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Three Naxals and a paramilitary trooper belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed on Monday in a gunfight in India's eastern state of Jharkhand, police said.
The gunfight broke out in the forest of Belbha Ghat in Giridih district, about 185 km northeast of Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand.
"Today a gunfight broke out between Naxals and government forces here inside the Belbha Ghat forests," a police official posted in Giridih district said. "Three Naxals were killed in the anti-Naxal operation, while a CRPF personnel was also killed fighting these Naxals."
Police have recovered bodies of Naxals from the gunfight site.
The Naxalite insurgency has its genesis in the violent left-wing rebellion that began in 1967 at village Naxalbari in the Indian state of West Bengal.
The rebels are active in more than a third of India's 600 odd districts across central and eastern regions.
India's former prime minister Manmohan Singh once termed the Naxalite movement as India's "greatest internal security challenge."
New Delhi has deployed several companies of its paramilitary forces to take on Naxals in their strongholds.
The insurgency reportedly has claimed more than 6,000 lives and rendered thousands of poor inhabitants homeless.
