The police vehicle in which the victims were travelling was hit by a roadside blast in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh state on Monday, a police statement said.
The attack took place as soldiers were returning from an anti-Maoist operation on Saturday, where four rebels and a police officer were killed.
“Eight security forces and a driver were killed today when the vehicle in which they were travelling in came in contact with a landmine,” said Vivekanand Sinha, chief of the state police’s anti-Maoist operations.
Photographs published by Indian media showed a deep crater ripped into the road by the blast.
More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long conflict waged by the rebels, who say they are fighting to give poor Indian farmers and landless labourers more control over their land currently exploited by major mining companies.
MNA