Avenging the Sukma attack, security forces claim to have gunned down 12-15 Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Basaguda-Chintalnar area on Sunday.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday said the brutal Maoist attack in Dantewada, in which 76 security personnel were killed, is a reminder that no state government can single-handedly tackle Naxal violence and called for a coordinated action by the Centre and the states.
The explosion took place in a hilly area in Bacheli in Dantewada when the personnel were returning to their camp after purchasing groceries from market.
The deadly Maoist ambush, claiming the lives of 14 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, was planned and supervised by local Naxal leaders who were reportedly camping in south Bastar for past few days, a senior police official said on Tuesday.
The surrender of top Naxal leader Gudsa Usendi, mastermind of many lethal strikes including the attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh last year, is certainly a good news for the NIA, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
In the second brazen attack in as many days, Naxals on Friday blew up an anti-landmine vehicle, killing 10 security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. The anti-landmine vehicle of the security force was approaching a bridge near Gatan village when the Naxals triggered a powerful blast and opened indiscriminate fire on them, said the police.Seven Special Police Officers and three police jawans were killed when their vehicle was tossed in the air by the blast.
The Congress has pinned its hopes on many of the old-timers and also given representation to some new faces in its first list of candidates announced for the Chhattisgarh assembly polls scheduled next month.
As the Centre prepares to launch a massive operation against the Maoists, police in the Naxal-hit Andhra Pradesh have a reason to rejoice this year.
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.
A guard of honour was on Wednesday given to the 26 Central Reserve Police Force jawans who were killed in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Naryanpur district.
The United Progressive Alliance will celebrate the first anniversary of its second consecutive term in office on Saturday after a sweet and sour year marked by misses and hits in governance and its deft management of uncertainties of coalition politics.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
In the wake of repeated attacks by Maoists on the Central Reserve Police Force, the government is working out a plan for the redeployment of paramilitary forces engaged in anti-Naxal operations in states.
The Centre has directed security forces deployed in Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to tighten vigil in the three states in view of intelligence reports which suggested that Naxals would try to carry out strikes in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
Concerned over spurt in Naxal violence, Union Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai will arrive in Raipur on Monday on a two-day visit to Chhattisgarh during which he will take stock of the security situation, redeployment of paramilitary forces and visit some worst Maoist-hit areas.
The high-pitch campaign ended on Sunday in Maharashtra for the October 13 assembly elections which saw Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena fighting for the same political space and the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party aiming a hat-trick.
Talking tough a day after the beheading of a Jharkhand police officer, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the security forces will engage the Maoists till they abjure violence and the air force will take steps to protect itself from any Naxal attacks.
Date, a 1990 Indian Police Service officer of the Maharashtra cadre who once sold newspapers in Pune to financially support his family, was honoured with the President's Police medal for gallantry for his role in what has come to be known as the 26/11 attack.
Last rites of CRPF jawanas killed in the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Sukma, were conducted with full state honours.
Twelve constituencies of Bastar division were among 20 assembly segments in Chhattisgarh that went to the polls in the first phase on November 7. A high voter turnout of 78 per cent was recorded in these 20 seats.
The face-off between a compact team of District Reserve Group and ultras took place in the forested hills of Metapal village, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap told PTI.
The Indian Air Force on Thursday said it has deployed Garud Special Forces commandos and four choppers for anti-Naxal operations but withdrawn the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles operating in Maoist bastions in Chhattisgarh.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will be used for the first time to detect Naxal hideouts in dense forests and hilly terrains and monitor the movement of ultras to help ground forces carry out precision attacks.
The explosive, however, remained "undetected" during the demining exercise conducted a day before the attack on Wednesday, they said.
The CRPF and local police on anti-Naxal operations perform a thankless job but a few basic counter-insurgency measures could have prevented the deadly Dantewada attack, writes B Raman.
Naxals are planning their attacks on security forces years in advance. For example, the explosive device which killed eight Central Reserve Police Force jawans in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Saturday was probably planted deep under the road at the time when the road was being constructed, official sources said.
The Union home ministry on Tuesday ruled out involvement of the army in anti-Naxal operations but said more paramilitary forces will be deployed for intensified operations in Maoists-hit areas to flush out the extremists.
The Left-wing extremists have killed about 2,670 people--about 1,680 civilians and nearly 990 security personnel--since 2005, equalling three deaths every two days.
With the Maoists striking once again, Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday accused the government of lacking "will power" to fight Naxals in a firm manner and suggested that all parties should be consulted on dealing with the challenge, which is assuming enormous proportions.
Communication, dated February 17 to all state governments, said the CPI (Maoist) planned to capture attention once again
The blockade, which began at midnight, had no impact in West Bengal and Orissa. Maoists, however, partially damaged a BSNL tower at Balimela near Malkangiri in Orissa in a landmine attack.
"The Congress in a way is in the grip of urban Naxals. That is why its thought has become negative," Modi alleged in his 90-minute speech.
The CRPF is also looking at the second option of inducting a new company (around 125 men) into the 62nd battalion to be deployed in the dense jungles of Chhattisgarh to undertake anti-Naxal operations.
The next course of action against the Naxalites, who blew up a rail track in West Bengal that resulted in a collision between a passenger train and a good train, would be taken shortly following a high-level meeting, Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said.
"Maoists should say 'We will abjure violence. We will suspend violence and actually suspend violence for 72 hours'. We will get the chief ministers on board. We will respond. We will fix a date, time and place for talks and let the Maoists come for the talks on anything they wish to talk," Chidambaram told the CNN-IBN television channel.
A sub-inspector of the Andhra Pradesh's counter-Maoist force was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award of the country, as India celebrated its 65th Republic Day on Sunday.
"My government is always prepared for dialogue with the Naxals, but first they should give up arms and the path of violence," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters after reviewing the ongoing combing operation against Maoists at a high-level meeting here.
In the wake of a series of Maoist attacks on trains and rail infrastructure, the railway ministry is likely to seek deployment of paramilitary forces like the Central Reserve Police Force to guard its tracks and property in the Naxal-hit areas.
