India policemen bodies recovered following abduction Published duration 15 July 2015

image copyright AP image caption The Maoist insurgency has been described as India's biggest security threat

The bodies of four policemen who were abducted by Maoist rebels have been recovered in India's Chhattisgarh state.

The rebels had abducted the policemen after stopping a bus carrying security personnel in Bijapur on Monday.

The Maoists say they are fighting for communist rule and greater rights for tribal people and the rural poor.

Their insurgency began in West Bengal in the late 1960s, spreading to more than a third of India's 676 districts.

Senior Bijapur official KL Dhruv told BBC Hindi that the bodies had been recovered near Kutru [a village in Bijapur district] early on Wednesday.

Kutru is a rebel dominated area, some 525km (326 miles) south of the state capital, Raipur.

Chhattisgarh is often hit by Maoist violence. At least 14 policemen were killed in an ambush in the state in December.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described India's Maoist insurgency as its "greatest internal security challenge".