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On an average, Naxals kill at least three persons in as many as six attacks every day. In the first six months of 2010, Maoists carried out a total of 1,103 attacks, in which 534 people were killed.
This was disclosed by Home Minister P Chidambaram while speaking at a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the situation arising out of Maoist violence in the country.
According to the data presented by the home minister, the extremists have killed 325 civilians and 209 security personnel during this period, which is equivalent to three killings daily.
Among the civilians killed by Naxals, 142 were dubbed as police informers -- a trend which saw 500 civilian killings on an average every year between 2004 and 2008. However, Maoists suffered 97 casualties during the same period. A total of 1,341 ultras have also been apprehended.
The major attacks by Naxals this year included the February 15 attack on a Central Reserve Police Force camp at Silda in West Bengal, the Dantewada massacre on April 6, the Chingawaram bus attack and the June 29 attack on security forces in Dhaudhai, Chhattisgarh.
At least 20 paramilitary jawans were killed in the Silda attack, while 75 CRPF personnel and one Chhattisgarh policeman were killed when they were ambushed by over 1,000 Naxals in Dantewada forests.
The attack on a civilian bus at Chingawaram on May 17 claimed the lives of 40 people, including that of 15 special police officers, while at least 26 security forces personnel were killed in an ambush near Dhaudhai on June 29 in the third major attack in Chhattisgarh in the last three months.
Besides, there was the derailment of the Gynaneswari Express by the ultras in Jhargram, West Bengal that claimed the lives of 149 innocent civilians.