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Eight killed in south India extremist attack

HYDERABAD(India): Eight people were killed and eight were injured when left-wing extremists attacked a police post in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, police said on Saturday.

Seven police officers were among those killed when members of the outlawed People's War Group of Naxalites attacked the outpost near Sileru about 600 km (390 miles) northeast of Hyderabad, the state capital, on Friday night, police said.

"The Naxalites first hurled explosives on the perimeter of the police outpost. They later opened fire on the police personnel," said police official M.A. Basith.

"In the fierce encounter that ensued between the policemen and the Naxalites, seven police personnel were killed and one Naxalite also died," he said.

A large police force was searching the area for the attackers, who escaped with a large cache of arms and ammunition.

The People's War Group of Naxalites is an insurgent group that targets landlords and law enforcement authorities across large tracts of forest straddling the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Maharashtra.

Its members are called Naxalites after the eastern Indian town of Naxalbari, where their movement originated decades ago.-Reuters