Suspected rebels kill 16, wound 25 in India

NEW DELHI — Police say suspected Maoist rebels attacked a convoy of cars carrying local leaders and supporters of India’s ruling Congress party in eastern India, killing at least 16 people and wounding 25 others.

Senior police officer M. Gupta said suspected insurgents triggered a land mine blast and fired at the vehicles on Saturday in the Sukma area, about 215 miles south of Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh state.

Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party president, is calling it a “dastardly attack” on the country’s democratic values.

The rebels have been fighting the central government for more than four decades, demanding land and jobs for tenant farmers and the poor.