March 11 (Bloomberg) -- India Maoist rebel groups, dubbed the nation's biggest security threat by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have built up a 600 million rupee ($15 million) war chest to buy weapons and explosives, the government said.
The spending covers a procurement drive from 2007 to 2009, junior Home Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said in a written statement in parliament today, citing a Maoist insurgent arrested in the eastern state of Jharkhand.
Left-wing Maoist guerrillas, known as Naxalites, are active in at least 11 of the country's 28 states, which are rich in iron ore, coal, bauxite, manganese and other minerals, and have the potential to attract billions of dollars in investment.
The Naxalites, who have waged a campaign of violence against landowners and police for more than three decades, were responsible for killing 696 people and security personnel in 2007, according to federal government statistics.
Maoists are now targeting vital economic infrastructure to cripple transport and slow down any developmental activity in the country. They have killed political leaders in some states.
Maoists, who have acquired sophisticated weapons, get a substantial portion of their arms by looting armories, Jaiswal said in parliament earlier this month. They also get them from illicit weapons manufacturing units, he said at the time.
In February, rebels attacked police posts in two districts in Orissa state, looted ``a sizable number'' of weapons and ammunition and killed 13 police personnel and one civilian.
The government is trying to combat extremism through economic development measures, backed up by police action.
The federal government is helping states through measures such as deploying additional forces, straightening state police and intelligence agencies and assisting in developmental works, Jaiswal said today.
The term Naxalite is derived from Naxalbari, a village in West Bengal state, where the communist rebel group movement began in 1967
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