RAIPUR (India), March 1: At least eight people including security forces were killed on Thursday in a landmine blast triggered by suspected Maoist rebels in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, police said.

At least six of those killed by the mine, detonated in the insurgency-hit Dantewada district about 500 kilometres south of the state capital Raipur, were security forces, state Home Minister Ram Vichar Netam said.

“The Maoist act of attacking the security personnel was aimed at disrupting a peace process taken up in the troubled areas,” Netam said.

Maoist rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribes and landless farmers, have gained control of 10 of the state's 16 impoverished districts, according to police estimates.—AFP