by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
NEW DELHI, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in a Naxalite attack Monday rose to 26 in Chhattisgarh state, officials said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the attack "cowardly" and said his government was closely monitoring the situation in the state.
"Attack on CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh is cowardly and deplorable. We are monitoring the situation closely," Modi said. "We are proud of the valor of our CRPF personnel. The sacrifice of the martyrs will not go in vain."
At least 26 CRPF personnel were killed and several others wounded, some of them critically, after Naxals attacked them during the day near Chintagufa in Sukma district, about 398 km south of Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh.
"We have lost 26 men in the gunfight," a senior CRPF official M Dinakaran told media. "The wounded personnel have been evacuated by helicopters and condition of few of them is stated to be critical."
Read the full story at Xinhua