After months of being in denial mode, Nepalese Maoists have come out openly extending "full support and cooperation" to the Naxalites in India, days after Home Minister P Chidambram mentioned about a possible arms supply from them.
Eleven Maoists, including the prime accused of the Jehanabad jail-break incident, were arrested in Bihar's Gaya district during combing operations early on Monday morning, police sources said.
Maoists have indicated that they have not backed out of the talks with the government, but asked mediator Swami Agnivesh not to contact them through their channels alleging that the police was tracking their leaders through the letters sent by him.
Trouble is brewing in Arunachal Pradesh where Maoists are instigating the locals to join anti-dam movements in eastern part.
Armed Maoists blasted two schools at a village in Bihar's Kaimur district on Monday, police said.
'This was long expected because Mahendra Karma was on the Maoists's hit list... I don't think the Maoists cared as much about the consequences as they cared about the fact that they had to get rid of Mahendra Karma. Whatever else they do or don't do now, they can say they have revenged Salwa Judum.' Sociologist Nandini Sundar on the Maoist massacre and its aftermath.
In the first-ever encounter between Maoists and the Assam Police, four hardcore rebels, including the head of their state armed wing, were killed in Tinsukia district on Wednesday.
Maoists have threatened to extend indefinitely their bandh call in seven states if their arrested leader Azad is not produced before a court on Monday, a top Naxal leader said on Saturday. "Our 48-hour bandh call from March 22 in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and three districts of Maharashtra will be extended indefinitely if Azad is not produced before the court on Monday," said top Maoist leader Kishenji.
Maoists on Wednesday looted ammonium nitrate from a truck in a jungle near Dhamteri district of Chhattisgarh, the state's top police official said.
In an open letter to the children of Bihar's Aurangabad district, Maoists have apologised for attacking their schools, four months after hundreds of students urged them to stop destroying their educational institutions. After targeting Railway property and police forces, Maoists now have schools on their radar. Maoists in Bihar have attacked nearly half a dozen schools in the last five days.The attacks follow the initiation of Operation Green Hunt against them.
With the Maoists firm on their demands and determined to keep Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka hostage till April 25, the Odisha government on Saturday said it would welcome anyone volunteering to negotiate with them. The statement came after the Maoist Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee said in a message that the fate of the MLA would be decided at a praja court by April 25.
Maoists on Saturday abducted the collector of Sukma district in Bastar area of Chhattisgarh after killing two of his bodyguards. The left-wing ultras intercepted the vehicle of Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon, an IAS officer, in Keralapal area of the district while he was returning from a programme, top police officials said.
'Killing 40, 50 or 100 Maoist leaders will not solve the issue. If there were no Maoists tomorrow it does not mean that violence will go away. And that is what the government should worry about,' says Rahul Pandita, author of Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement.
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.
The draft agreement was struck on November 8 and had been due to be signed last week but was postponed as both sides said some issues still had to be resolved. A Tuesday deadline was then set.
The last six to seven years of the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar has not seen any significant increase in Maoist violence, which nevertheless continues to take a toll of lives and government property.
A woman Maoist was killed and three security personnel injured in an exchange of fire between the two sides at Pallur in Koraput district in Orissa on Thursday morning. The exchange of fire took place when jawans of the Special Operation Group, the state's elite anti-Naxal force, were involved in a combing operation in Pallur area under Narayan Patna police station, said Y J Rao, sub-divisional police officer of Narayana Patna.
The Communist Party of India - Maoist on Thursday rubbished charges leveled by the Communist Party of India Marxist, that the Trinamool Congress was patronising Maoists, saying the Left Front party was trying to keep itself afloat by making such allegations. "There is no need for us to have the CPI-M or the Trinamool Congress as allies," Maoist leader Kishenji said while reacting to the CPI-M's allegations that the outfit was protected by the TC.
In a daring attack, a group of over 25 Maoists attacked a police camp belonging to the joint forces in Purulia district, West Bengal, injuring ten police personnel, the police said on Sunday. In a retaliatory raid by the forces on a nearby village, three ultras were injured. Purulia Superintendent of Police Rajesh Yadav said Maoists, aided by villagers belonging to the People's Committee against Police Atrocities, raided the Gurpana police camp at approximately 11.30 am.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said on Wednesday that the Maoists had been trying to set up base in Assam for the last three years to exploit the fluid situation in the insurgency-hit state, but in vain, thanks to alertness shown by the Assam police, a force with much experience in counter-insurgency operations.
"Talks have been suspended. There has been delay in resolving the issue as Odisha government is buying time instead of sincerely responding to the demands of the Maoists," mediators B D Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty told media persons in Bhubaneswar.
A Bihar court on Friday acquitted 11 Nepali Maoist leaders after hearing the state government's petition for the withdrawal of criminal cases against them. Two days after the state government filed a petition in the Patna civil court for the withdrawal of cases, Additional District Judge Bashishtha Narain Singh ordered the acquittal of the Nepal Maoist leaders after holding a hearing on the petition.
"Over 50 files were created on Swamy's hard drive, including incriminating documents that fabricated links between him and the Maoist insurgency," the report said.
The attacks follow the initiation of Operation Green Hunt against the Naxals by the government.
The rebels threatened to resume the blockades of highways leading to capital and other district headquarters if Parliament failed to set in motion the process for constituent assembly elections on Friday.
Teltumbde is the third of the 16 accused arrested in the case to be released on bail.
A day after Maoists' mediators announced that abducted Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon will be released within 48 hours, the Chhattisgarh government said it was hopeful that the ten-day hostage crisis will come to an end today and the IAS officer would be freed by Wednesday. The breakthrough to ensure the safe return of the 32-year-old collector, who was abducted on April 21, came in the form of an agreement between the two mediators of the Chattisgarh government.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said that there was some progress in the talks with Maoists for the release of abducted Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon, with both sides agreeing on some points.
An AK-47 rifle, one SLR, three Insas rifles and a .303 rifle were also recovered from the encounter spot.
Ending uncertainty and suspense, the Maoists have released Atindranath Dutta, the police officer, whom they abducted last week.
Azad, the spokesperson of the Central Committee of the outlawed Communist Party of India - Maoist, said in a statement that a separate state of Telangana is an 'inalienable right' of the four crore people of the region. He called for a 'united militant mass struggle' against the 'fascist Congress regime' and the 'betrayers in various political garbs to achieve' a separate Telangana. The Maoist leader also slammed the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, saying it wasted five years.
Claiming that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was not interested in holding talks, Kishenji said both sides should sit for dialogue while ensuring that there was no state-sponsored terrorism and revenge tactics.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam chief J. Jayalalithaa on Monday said the Centre should "go all out to eradicate" the Maoists.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday claimed that the Communist Party of India-Marxist was importing Maoists from Nepal and providing them with arms to terrorise people.
"I would like no ifs, no buts and no conditions," Chidambaram said in a statement in New Delhi, a day after the CPI-Maoists made a conditional ceasefire offer provided the government halted the offensive against them for 72 days and involve mediators for talks.
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