DATE=5/07/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDIA/COMMUNISTS (S-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-289510

BYLINE=ANJANA PASRICHA

DATELINE=NEW DELHI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT: assignments.neb-wire

INTRO: In India, at least 14 police officers have been killed, and three others injured in a landmine explosion set off by suspected communist rebels. Anjana Pasricha in New Delhi reports, the rebels are opposing recent anti-terrorism legislation passed by the government.

TEXT: Officials say the policemen were travelling in a security van when guerrillas of the group, the Maoist Communist Center, triggered the landmine in Kodarma district of the eastern Jharkhand state. Police reinforcements rushed to the area, and there was a heavy exchange of gunfire with the rebels. The guerrillas also blew up a stretch of train track.

The violence occurred on the second day of a statewide strike called by the rebels to protest a tough new anti-terrorism law passed by the federal government in March. In statements to local newspapers, the rebels have accused police of misusing the anti-terror law. The new law designates the rebels as terrorists.

The Maoist rebels have been fighting for over two decades in several of India's less developed regions for peasant rights and to protest government repression. Jharkhand is one of the country's poorer states. (signed)

NEB/AP/FC