Maoists kill 8 Indian police in explosives store raid

RAIPUR, India, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Close to 200 armed Maoist rebels stormed a state-run explosives store in eastern India, killing eight federal police and wounding seven others, police said on Friday.

The overnight raid took place at a National Mineral Development Corporation unit some 450 km (280 miles) south of Raipur, capital of the mineral-rich state of Chhattisgarh.

"They took away the explosives into the nearby forests," Additional Director General of Chhattisgarh police S.K. Paswan told Reuters.

He said several of the injured were in a serious condition with multiple bullet wounds.

The Maoists, armed with automatic weapons and rifles, managed to enter the store after a firefight with members of the Central Industrial Security Force stationed there to protect it.

There were no immediate reports of Maoist casualties.

The latest raid by Maoist rebels, who claim to fight for India's impoverished peasants and landless labourers, followed two separate attacks by guerrillas in Chhattisgarh earlier this week which killed 12 policemen.

More than 9,000 Maoist rebels operate in at least nine Indian states and, in the past year, they have stepped up attacks on security personnel, prompting criticism of the federal government for not tackling them harder.