Five Maoists were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in a forest on the border of Odisha's Ganjam and Gajapati districts on Wednesday.At least two security personnel were also injured in the exchange of fire in Bhaliagada jungle under Mohana police station area, said the police.
Berhampur, the biggest city in southern Odisha, on Monday looked like a war zone as Cyclone Phailin left behind a trail of destruction. The cyclone accompanied by heavy rain hit Gopalpur, about 15 km from Behrampur, and battered the city and its nearby areas.
An alleged member of the banned People's Liberation Army of Manipur was arrested from Odisha by the National Investigation Agency, which is probing the nexus between Maoists and terror groups of the northeast.
The annual car festival in a village in Odisha's Ganjam district turned tragic when an elderly woman and her five-year-old grand daughter died after coming under the rolling wheels of the chariot of Lord Jagannath, the police said on Monday.
The security forces nabbed two ultras after intensifying combing operation on the sixth day today, flushing out the Naxals hiding in various jungles in the borders of Kandhmal and Ganjam, after the mayhem. Sources said that Mahipur outpost constable Chintamani Sahu, who was admitted along with seven others at the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, succumbed to the injuries on Wednesday night.
A large number of Maoists have been killed and four policemen were missing in the continuing gunbattle between security forces and the militants, who killed 15 people on Friday, in the Ganjam-Kandhamal border area of Orissa, official sources said.
In a major achievement for Odisha police, top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda wanted in over 60 criminal cases, has been arrested prompting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to appeal to Naxals to eschew violence and join the mainstream
West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
The cyclone, according to an IMD report early Sunday, is developing into a severe cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal and can potentially become a very severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours, S N Pradhan, the chief of NDRF said in New Delhi.
At least three persons died on Saturday after uprooted trees fells on them in Odisha ahead of Cyclone Phailin's landfall at Gopalpur.
While man and a woman were reported killed when trees came crashing down on them in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, a 13-year-old girl died in a similar incident in adjoining Howrah. No casualties have been reported from Odisha yet.
The state is following surveillance, containment, increasing testing facilities, and ensuring essentials at people's doorstep, among other strategies, reports T E Narasimhan.
The national capital received heavy precipitation resulting in waterlogging on several roads and traffic jams at various intersections.
Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
According to the SRC, the evacuation of eight lakh people is the largest-ever evacuation operation in the country.
With cyclone Phailin expected to make landfall in Odisha on Saturday, the state government mounted a massive operation to evacuate two lakh people from six coastal districts on Friday night
Carrying their baggage, thousands of people are leaving the port town of Paradip to escape the wrath of the severe cyclonic storm 'Phailin' which is expected to make landfall in Odisha in less than 24 hours.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
With better preparedness and efficient planning and execution, toll restricted to a low level. Lesson from 1999 cyclone helped.
A new 7.3-magnitude earthquake and seven powerful aftershocks struck Nepal on Tuesday killing at least 50 people and triggering panic in the Himalayan nation already devastated by a monster temblor less than three weeks ago that had claimed over 8,000 lives.
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