The explosive, however, remained "undetected" during the demining exercise conducted a day before the attack on Wednesday, they said.
Chhattisgarh has witnessed rising incidence of such attacks.
The Communist Party of India-Maoist has in a three-page letter taken responsibility for the Dantewada attack that killed 76 Central Reserve Police Force and Combat Battalion for Resolute Action commandos on Tuesday.
Condemning the Maoist attack on a Congress rally in Chhattisgarh, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that Maoism is a serious challenge to Indian democracy and joint efforts are being made to combat it.
In a bid to create terror and panic ahead of the polls, Maoists blew up a government middle school at Lakhisarai district in Bihar on early Thursday, just as the state was going to polls, the police said.
At least 24 paramilitary jawans were killed in the biggest-ever Maoist attack in West Bengal, when ultras overran their camp at Silda in West Midnapore after setting it on fire on Monday, barely a week after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's meeting in Kolkata to draw up a joint strategy to counter them.
The Congress hit back at Modi and accused him of indulging in his 'trademark petty politics' and seeking to hide his 'abject failure and weak-kneed' approach to fighting Naxalism.
There is a "high probability" of political leaders coming under a Chhatisgarh-type attack during their panchayat poll campaign in Maoist-hit Jangalmahal in West Bengal, intelligence sources here have indicated.
Fourteen jawans were feared killed when armed Maoists attacked a paramilitary force camp at Sildha in West Midnapore district on Monday evening."According to information available here, nine jawans were burnt to death and five others were shot dead. We are yet to get the detailed figure of the casualty," a source said.District Magistrate N S Nigam said at least 50 Maoists on 25 motorcycles, armed with sophisticated weapons, swooped down on the camp.
The Jhargram train attack that killed at least 75 people on Friday is the latest of the over 65 Maoist attacks in the past one year that have targeted the railways. The Left-wing extremists have carried out four attacks on railway properties in May alone. On May 19, they triggered a landmine blast on railway tracks near Jhargram in West Midnapore district, injuring two drivers of a goods train and leaving the engine partially damaged.
Strongly condemning the Maoist attack on Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh, the Communist Party of India(ML) has said that such an action would result in perpetuating more state violence on the poor tribals.
Nepal on Monday dismissed suggestions of any 'Chinese connection' behind the recent Maoist attack on two Indian priests of the Pashupatinath temple. Deploring the incident that took place at the temple premises on Friday, Nepal Culture Minister Minindra Rijal told an Indian private news channel, "It's very clear that they (Maoists) are involved." "As an independent Nepali citizen, some might be a little more sympathetic to China," he said.
Two weeks after Maoists and police exchanged fire in Wayanad, a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet and two offices of the Forest department were on Monday attacked by suspected Maoists in Palakkad and Wayanad districts.
"There were some women cadre also in the Maoist contingent that attacked the train on Thursday," Additional Director General of Police (ADG), Law and Order S K Bhardwaj told PTI.
'Counter-insurgency operations cannot be conducted by following inflexible SOPs.' 'It is unwise to enter jungles with a large body of troops without precise intelligence,' asserts counter-insurgency expert Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
Banned outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist Tuesday claimed responsibility for the massacre of Congress leaders in Bastar region and demanded immediate suspension of all operations against it across the country.
Mahendra Karma, former Chhattisgarh home minister, slain by Naxals along with 26 others, had Z-plus security with 16 armed guards but was accompanied by only six guards when he was attacked.
The development comes nearly a month after Chief Minister Baghel said that his government was ready to hold talks with the rebels if they expressed faith in the Constitution.
Naxalites blew up the mini-goods van in which the security personnel were travelling by using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), police sources said.
A massive manhunt has been launched to nab Naxal leaders behind the Dantewada massacre as investigations into the worst-ever Maoist attack showed that the ultras had used light machine guns in killing 76 security personnel. Sources in the team conducting the investigations said a survey of site of the attack showed that two LMGs had been used by the Naxals -- who were mainly from Company 3 and Company 8 of the Maoists Central Committee and led by Hidma and Papa Rao.
The incident occurred at Lippitiputta village under Dambriguda mandal when Araku (ST) MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma went to take part in a 'grama darsini' (village visit) programme.
The Maoist who has emerged as the major threat to the security forces in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district.
A day after Home Minister P Chidambaram said Maoists could be behind the attack on Jnaneswari Express, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she was not sure about the involvement of the Left-wing extremists.
Three Maoists and a civilian were among those killed when the ultras attacked the Eastern Frontier Rifle camp in West Midnapore district leaving 24 jawans dead, police said on Tuesday.
The Maoists also looted 14 Self Loading Rifles, one 9 mm pistol, two wireless sets and huge amounts of explosive material, including detonators and fuses, stocked by the PSU for its own mining activities.
A National Investigation Agency team arrived in Malkangiri on Thursday to record the statements of two Maoists who have admitted to the Odisha police that they were involved in the May 25 attack in Chhattisgarh in which several Congress leaders were killed.
Justice Prashant Mishra, a sitting judge of the Chhattisgarh high court, will probe last Saturday's Maoist attack on the Congress leaders. He will submit his report within three months.
The police on Thursday arrested two hardcore Maoists and claimed that they were part of the ultras' plot to attack security camps in certain districts of Western Odisha.
In two separate attacks, suspected Maoists triggered a blast on the railway tracks in Jharkhand's Giridih district, damaging its fish plates, and also blew up a mobile tower in Hazaribag, the police said.
Congress workers on Sunday disrupted rail and road servcies during the day-long bandh called by the party in Chhattisgarh to press for the dismissal of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the wake of deadly Maoist attack.
CoBRA commando Rakeshwar Singh Manhas went missing after the April 3 ambush in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region.
The Maoists stormed the Central Bank of India branch at Riga and injured its manager and a Home guard while attempting to loot cash from the chest, which they failed to break open, police sources said.
Maoist attacks have led to 217 disruptions in the movement of trains as a result of which the Railways have suffered a loss of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion), Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Two days after Naxals struck in a big way in Chhattisgarh, the government on Wednesday asserted that there will be no let up in operations to eliminate the Maoist menace and promised all support to the security forces to deal with it firmly.
Sunday's attack came a couple of days after a Naxalite strike on a Central Industrial Security Force picket in Bokaro district of Jharkhand, in which two personnel of the paramilitary force and four other persons were killed.
In a prize catch, the West Bengal police on Tuesday night arrested top Maoist leader Venkateswar Reddy, the suspected mastermind of the attack that killed 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel in Silda in West Midnapore district. Additional Director General of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department Raj Kanojia said Reddy, alias Telugu Dipak, was arrested from Sarshuna on the southern fringes of the city.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday termed the deadly Maoist attack on his party leaders in Chhattisgarh as an attack on democracy itself.
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.
Chairing a meeting to review the security situation in LWE-affected states, Shah said the Modi government has adopted a policy of zero tolerance against left wing extremism since 2014.
Many IEDs explode even when the troops are on foot and their trigger mechanism gets activated just due to the pressure of the feet. These incidents have injured more than 100 personnel over the last two years, the officer said.
