Indian security forces shot dead at least 12 Maoist rebels in central India, police said.

More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalised Indigenous people.

The firefight broke out Thursday in the forested areas of Bijapur district in the state of Chhattisgarh, known as the heartland of the insurgency.

"We have received information of the killing of 12 Maoists in encounters with the security forces," senior police official Sundarraj P told AFP.

A crackdown by security forces has killed more than 200 rebels in the past year, an overwhelming majority in Chhattisgarh, according to government data.

End Maoist rebellion by 2026

Amit Shah, India's interior minister, said last year the government expected to crush the rebellion by 2026.

The conflict has seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces over the years.

Earlier this month, a roadside bomb killed at least nine Indian troops.

A week after that, Indian troops killed at least five militants and a separate bomb blast wounded two police officers.

Twenty-two police and paramilitary members were killed in a gun battle with the far-left militants in 2021.

Sixteen commandos were also killed in the western state of Maharashtra in a bomb attack that was blamed on the Maoists in the lead-up to national elections in 2019.