Indian policemen shot dead six Maoist guerrillas in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh yesterday, two days after the rebels set off a landmine killing 13 people. Police said that the gunbattle took place in the Dantewada area, 500 kms south of the state capital Raipur, after the rebels shot dead a police officer.

Nearly a dozen guerrillas were wounded in the fighting but they were taken away by their comrades into dense forests nearby where police had launched a combing operation, police officer S.K. Paswan said.

The gunbattle followed Friday?s attack when the rebels blew up a jeep, apparently mistaking it for a police vehicle, killing 13 people, mostly tribes people and local traders.

Guerrilla violence has escalated in the impoverished state this year with more than 100 people killed since January, officials said.