An immediate grant of Rs 1.5 lakh, monthly stipends during training and even monetary incentives for surrender of weapons are all there for the asking for the banned Naxals under a surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy approved by the Centre on Monday.
The past five years have seen Naxals attacking schools on atleast 48 ocassions.The spate of attacks on schools increased in 2008. In fact 13 schools were attacked in Jharkhand in one month in 2009. Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa traces the history of Naxal attcks on schools in the last few years.
The Gujarat police has been able to suppress the menace of Naxalism in its initial stages in the state, Director General of Police (DGP) S S Khandwawala said on Friday.
Acting on a tip-off regarding the Naxal hideout in the forest area, personnel belonging to the CRPF 192 batallion rushed to the site.
Four personnel were also injured in the Naxal attack and two of them were stated to be critical.
Naxals blew up a railway station, stormed another and are feared to have abducted two railway officials in Orissa's Sundergarh district early on Saturday, just hours before the 24-hour bandh by the ultra left began in five Naxal-infested states. Over 60 Naxals struck Bhalulata railway station, located on the Howrah-Mumbai route, and triggered explosions using landmines and powerful explosives, Inspector in-charge of Bisra police station C S Mohanty said.
The incident occurred around 7.45 pm on the "black top road" between Peddakodepal and Naimed villages under the Naimed police station area, when the victims were heading towards neighbouring Dantewada district in an SUV to visit a fair, said Deputy Inspector General (anti-naxal operation) Sundarraj P.
A cache of explosives and weapons was also seized from the encounter site, he added.
Five naxals were gunned down by security forces in the jungles of Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district in Maoist hotbed Bastar, police said on Saturday.
550 live cartridges, an INSAS assault rifle, two other rifles and three self-loading rifle magazines were seized along with a huge quantity of explosives and detonators.
Naxals looted six automatic weapons -- two AK-47s and as many INSAS and self loading rifles -- of the deceased personnel.
The IED blast damaged the front portion of the bus, which was carrying a squad of at least 30 jawans.
Fearing leakage of their strategies ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Naxals are keeping a close watch on people who could act as informers and pass on information using mobile phones in villages of their hot-bed Bastar.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday warned that the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh will spawn a host of problems, including political instability, Naxal threat, terrorism and communal violence.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday mooted the idea of "One Nation, One Uniform" for the police, saying it is just a suggestion for consideration and he is not trying to impose it on the states.
"I am sure that the attempts to stall development and throttle democracy at gunpoint will not be successful ever," the home minister said at the meeting, being held two weeks after 25 paramilitary personnel were killed by a band of Maoists in Chhattisgarh.
A police jawan and a Naxal were killed in a gun-battle between security forces and ultras in the Maoist-hit Bijapur district of southern Chhattisgarh, police said on Wednesday.
Fadderbaba is a stark look at the tragedy that rules the lives of tribals in rural India, says A Ganesh Nadar.
Four Naxals were killed in an encounter on Thursday with the police in a remote forest area in Gadchiroli district bordering Chhattisgarh, a police officer said.
Three Naxals, including two women, were on Saturday gunned down by security forces at two different places in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bastar division, taking the total number of ultras killed in separate gun-battles in the region this month to 21.
A commando of an elite anti-Naxal force was killed and two policemen were injured while fighting the ultras during an exchange of fire in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district on Thursday morning, said the police.A commando of the C-60 battalion, Chinna Menta, was killed in the clash when a group of Naxals attacked a police patrol party at Nargond in Bhamragarh taluk in the district. He said the police found bodies of two Naxals from the encounter site.
Sundarraj said, "Security forces are in a dominating position."
The security forces had received inputs about the presence of cadres belonging to company no. 5 of Maoists in Bhomra, Hurtarai and Michchebeda villages, he said.
A naxal commander, who was carrying a reward of Rs 2.10 lakh on his head, was killed in a fierce gun-battle with the security personnel in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday afternoon, the police said.
A Border Security Force jawan was killed in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, the third strike by the ultras since Saturday in the state.
The Naxal attack on the Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh, which killed several top politicians, has once again raised questions about security and governance in the left wing extremism-affected areas. Former home secretary Gopal Pillai talks to Avantika Bhuyan about the ways to counter the problem
The home ministry has said the Naxals are spreading to states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in an attempt to set up a base in South India. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Condemning attack on Congress rally in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi called for "a policy of zero tolerance" towards terrorism and Naxalism.
a group of armed insurgents opened indiscriminate fire on the security officials, triggering a gun-battle between the two sides.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday suggested that if the Congress comes to power, it would redistribute wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources.
Almost a week after the Naxal attack on police personnel in Gariaband, in which nine police personnel were killed, the lone police jawan who had gone missing was spotted in an unconscious state in a village in Gariaband. He was hospitalised later. "A jeep driver spotted Sahu lying in an unconscious state on a road in Dhawalpur village in Gariaband. The driver informed the Mainpur police station and Sahu was later admitted to a hospital," said a officer.
Sources in the Intelligence Bureau and the National Investigation Agency claim that the Naxals had precise information about the movement of the Congress convoy, which came under attack on May 25, reports Vicky Nanjappa
Close on the heels of arrest of two prominent Naxals in the neighbouring Thane district on Monday, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on Friday said they have nabbed four more members of the group, including three women, from Pune and Nashik.
Two policemen injured in naxal attack at Temelwada area of Sukma district were air-lifted to Raipur for treatment on Saturday, Director General of Police Ramniwas said.
Security forces have apprehended more than a dozen Naxals after a gun-battle which left an Indo-Tibetan Border Police jawan dead in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district. The Naxals, including two of their top operatives, have been apprehended from Pattamwadvi jungle of the district after a five-day-long joint operation by the ITBP and state police which ended on Thursday. ITBP constable Bhoop Singh, who sustained bullet wounds in the attack, succumbed to his injuries later.
The National Investigation Agency is tracking down terrorists hiding in Uttar Pradesh and Naxals in Andhra Pradesh.
Chhattisgarh police on Tuesday said the lone policeman who had been missing since the naxal ambush in Gariabandh area on Monday was apparently safe, and he had contacted his family.
The government on Monday said it does not have inputs to suggest that the Naxals have established links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. "There are no inputs to suggest that the Naxals have established links with the ISI," Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal told the Lok Sabha during the Question Hour. He said as many as 217 security personnel and 441 civilians were killed in Naxal violence and action against them till November 30.
Six Naxals were killed and eight others were arrested after an encounter with security forces in Darmaha village in Bihar's east Champaran district in the wee hours of Monday.The over 12-hour-long encounter ended at 4 am on Monday, Director General of Police Neelmani said. The bodies of all the six Naxals have been recovered and eight left-wing ultras, including three women, have been arrested. Security forces have also recovered 14 weapons besides explosives and ammunition.
In the past one-and-a-half years, Naxals have destroyed nearly 250 mobile towers across the country. The incidents have occurred in Bihar, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. But there seems to be a method to the madness. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
