President Droupadi Murmu has approved 76 gallantry awards, including four Kirti Chakras posthumously and 11 Shaurya Chakras to personnel of the security forces, on the eve of the 77th Independence Day, officials said.
Nagaland Armed Police personnel, who were camping in the same locality, retaliated and the exchange of fire with the ultras continued for over an hour in Injeram, the sources said.
While sixteen bodies have been recovered, seven are still trapped in the anti-landmine vehicle.
Naxals on Tuesday burnt down five vehicles engaged in iron ore mining in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, police said.
As the rape and murder of two cousins in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun sparked a nationwide outrage, Chhattisgarh Home Minister Ramsevak Paikra has waded into a controversy by saying that rape happens "by mistake".
DIG Vishwaranjan and a top CRPF official said there were no casualties from the security personnel team.
'The Congress in the past backed the demand, but will not support it now since the SP opposes any division of UP.'
The dog handler was not injured in the blast.
In a major joint offensive, separate joint teams of security forces, comprising over 2,000 personnel, had launched an anti-Naxal operation from Bijapur and Sukma districts in the South Bastar forests, considered as the Maoist stronghold, on Friday night.
Chhattisgarh: Three naxals killed in encounter
The surgeon, who conducted sterilisation surgeries on 83 women at a state-run camp which claimed the lives of 12 women in Pendari village in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district, has been arrested.
The Centre and the states decided this week to set up a unified command to fight the Maoists. But as Rediff.com's Krishnakumar Padmanbhan discovered recently in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, the hostility and rivalry between the central and state police forces will not make such a initiative easy to execute.
Two Border Security Force jawans and a civilian driver were killed when Naxals blew up their vehicles in Maoist-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday.
In yet another Naxal attack in the state, a Chhattisgarh Armed Force jawan was killed when the ultras opened fire at his camp in Maoist-infested Sukma district on Sunday, the police said.
A police jawan was killed and three others were injured when Naxals attacked a police patrolling party in Maoist-hit Konda Goan district of Chhattisgarh in the small hours of Friday, police said. "The face off between policemen and ultras took place in Borgoan area of Keshkal town of the district at around 1 am," said Konda Gaon Superintendent of Police D Shravan.
The state police said that 24 of its men, including SP V K Choubey, were killed when Maoists ambushed a party led by him while it was on the way to a police camp at Madanwada where the militants had killed two of its personnel on Sunday.
Two tiffin bombs, suspected to be planted by Maoists to target security forces and polling parties during the Lok Sabha elections, were uncovered by authorities in the insurgency-hit Kanker district of Chhattisgarh.
Ten Naxals were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Tuesday.
The families of policemen being held hostage by Maoists in Bhopalpatnam, near the Chhattisgarh- Andhra Pradesh border, have appealed for their release without delay. Maoists abducted the seven policemen last Sunday, including an assistant sub inspector, a special police officer and three constables. The bodies of three policemen were recovered a day later from a dense forest in Bijapur District of Bastar region. Four are still missing.
At least seven persons, including three naxals, were killed following an attack by Maoists at a government camp in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh Monday, police said.
"The Maoists blew up a cement-laden truck near Kapsi, about 250 km from the state capital, by triggering a landmine, killing three CSEB employees, including the truck's driver," a police source in Narayanpur told PTI.
Four policemen, who are missing since Sunday last from Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, are yet to be traced.
Suspected Naxals fired at an Indian Air Force helicopter and injured a security man in the Maoist hotbed of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. According to preliminary reports, the helicopter was on a mission to airlift a few Central Reserve Police Force troopers when it was fired upon.
Hidma Madavi, who had a Rs 12 lakh reward on his head, was arrested without a single bullet being fired.
Three security personnel were killed and two others injured on Wednesday night when Naxalites blasted a police outpost building at Vishrampuri in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.
The Special Cell has sent a notice to Twitter in connection with an inquiry into a complaint regarding the alleged 'COVID-19 toolkit' and sought a clarification from the microblogging site for classifying a related tweet by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sambit Patra as "manipulative", an official said on Monday.
Prima facie, the bus driver could not clearly see the stationary truck parked on the roadside due to heavy rainfall, as a result of which the bus rammed into it from the rear side, he said.
Around five lakh devotees visited the Ram temple complex on day one as it opened its doors to the public on Tuesday, a day after the consecration ceremony, according to officials.
Senior party leader P Chidambaram, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut expressed support to Priyanka, who has alleged that no notice or first information report (FIR) has been given to her even after her 38-hour detention and was not allowed to meet her legal counsel.
The naxalites claimed that the Rani Bodli incident was an answer to the Salwa Judum (peace campaign) and anti-naxal operation in Bastar region.
Available information indicates that the CRPF's operation in Chattisgarh last week in which 19 alleged Maoists were killed, had taken place on half-baked information, reports Vicky Nanjappa
Striking a different note from the government on last week's anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh that left 19 tribals killed, Congress on Tuesday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state for the "botch-up", saying it has resulted in the loss of lives of innocent tribals and minors.
Ravi Sinha is described as "highly tech-savvy", and credited with infusing modern technology in the field of intelligence collection.
Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) R K Vij told UNI that four constables of the Naga Battalion, accompanied by two special police officers were returning after patrolling duty.
The Naxal movement has such a complex history that several books have been written to understand it. Bastar: The Naxal Story seeks to reduce it to bullet points and stereotypes, observes Deepa Gahlot.
The rules for the CAA are likely to be issued before the MCC comes into effect, sources privy to the development said.
Kanker district Superintendent of Police Rahul Bhagat told PTI on phone that a joint patrolling team of the BSF and the district police from Koylibeda was ambushed near Sulangi village by around 150 naxals in which two BSF jawans -- a head constable and a constable--were killed on the spot while three others, including a special police officer, were injured.
During a review, the EC found that the performance of some officers was "unsatisfactory" and they were found "complacent, if not complicit" in various matters, including the illegal supply of liquor as a possible poll inducement, sources said.
Cops said during interrogation, they admitted to their involvement in the attack.
