RAIPUR, India, Aug 29 (Reuters) - At least 12 policemen were feared killed after a fierce gun battle with Maoist insurgents in the forests of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, a top police officer said.

They were part of two teams of 40 policemen clearing a jungle road that was blocked by tree trunks, placed by the rebels.

They were attacked in the heavily forested Dantewada district.

"We suspect all 12 policemen, who went missing during the gun battle, killed and we are trying to recover the bodies," H. Vishwaranjan, the state's Director General of Police, told Reuters in Raipur, the state capital. He goes by one name.

Earlier on Wednesday, only 27 policemen returned from the jungles, three with bullet injuries, officials said.

"The rebels opened fire and our men retaliated and the gun battle lasted for an hour," said Girdhari Nayak, a senior police officer, quoting police witnesses.

In July, 24 policemen were found riddled with bullets in the same area after they went missing and officials blamed the Maoists.

Maoist rebels operate across a wide swathe of India, stretching from the east through the central region to some southern states, mostly in the countryside, and often attack police patrols and destroy government property.

They say they are fighting for the rights of millions of poor peasants and landless labourers. Thousands of people have been killed in the insurgency, which began in the late 1960s.

Chhattisgarh is close to the epicentre of the insurgency.

In March, Maoists stormed a police camp in Chhattisgarh, killing 55 members of the police and a pro-government tribal militia in one of the deadliest attacks in years.

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