India sentences 10 Maoist rebels to death over 2013 ambush

A special Indian court has sentenced 10 Maoist rebels to death for their role in a May 2013 ambush on a convoy in Chhattisgarh that killed 27 people, including Congress party members, India's National Investigation Agency said.

The NIA said the Maoists were convicted of offences including conspiracy and waging war against the state. It said attackers detonated an explosive device, opened fire and threw grenades at the convoy in a remote forested area.

The agency said its investigation established that the 10 Maoist cadres were involved in a conspiracy to attack and kill senior Congress leaders and security personnel.

The Maoist rebellion began in the 1960s and has killed more than 12,000 people. India imposes the death penalty by hanging, though executions are rare. The last executions in India were in March 2020, when four men convicted over the 2012 gang rape and murder of a woman on a Delhi bus were hanged.