On a visit to Maoist-affected states of Chattisgarh and Jharkand, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said there is no move to involve the army in the fight against Naxals who pose the "gravest challenge."
He also said the Naxals were spreading in urban areas and were trying to mislead the people.
The National Investigation Agency, which will probe the shocking Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh, is seeking information about an operative named Gaganna alias Ramesh. The preliminary investigation has revealed that Gaganna was the leader of the operation.
A CRPF jawan was killed and another injured in a gun-fight with Naxals on Tuesday in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bijapur district.
The country's largest paramilitary force -- the Central Reserve Police Force -- is literally going to 'school' as the force has recently created six new institutions to hone the operational and intelligence gathering skills of its troops.
Over 100 armed Naxals attacked security forces conducting search operation in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district on Sunday morning, killing five personnel, including three from the Border Security Force, and injuring one, the police said.
An injured jawan said around 10-12 Naxalites must have got killed in the 'befitting' retaliation by the CRPF contingent.
A recent study on Naxalism in India has concluded that Naxal fighters spend roughly Rs 140 crore annually to wage war against the Indian State.
A jawan of the special task force of state police was killed in an encounter with the Naxals in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district on Saturday. The encounter took place at Kondre village under Gadiras police station limits, 400 km from Raipur, Additional Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh told PTI.
Naxals have abducted a village sarpanch in eastern Maharashtra, the police said.
The Centre on Wednesday announced ex-gratia payment of Rs 15 lakh for kin of each of the 75 Central Reserve Police Force men killed in the Naxal attack on Tuesday in Chattisgarh's Dantewada district.
Jha, a fearless officer of the country's largest paramilitary force, led a lethal anti-Naxal operation on July 3 last year in Jamui district of Bihar.
Barring Chhattisgarh, the situation is under control in other states.
Counter insurgency operations alone will not end Naxalism as the government needs to address its "root cause", which is the issue of forests and land rights, former BSF Director General E N Rammohan, who probed the Dantewada killings last month, said Friday.
"The face off between policemen and ultras took place in Borgoan area of Keshkal town of the district at around 1 am," Konda Gaon Superintendent of Police D Shravan told PTI over phone.
The skirmish took place in the wee hours in the restive Dabba-Kunna hills when the joint team of the CRPF and STF was out on an anti-Maoist operation.
Deva recently replaced Hidma as commander of the Maoists' battalion no. 1, the IG added.
The Maoists carried out two dozen blasts in the evening when the motorcycle-borne policemen during an anti-Naxal operation were passing through the Kudur area
A CoBRA company has about 100 personnel each.
The impact of the blast was so tremendous that it created a crater of about five to six feet width at the blast site and flung the police van carrying the STF personnel in the air.
The police party was on their way to Kanker district in Bastar region for a combing operation when they were attacked by the rebels, Bastar IG A N Upadhyaya said, adding that the injured security personnel were rushed to Raipur hospital by helicopter.
The home ministry has tasked country's lead anti-Naxal operations force Central Reserve Police Force to take the responsibility with immediate effect after the proposal to this effect was cleared by the office of Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
The Maoists have constituted 'Baal Action Teams' to deploy school children in different capacities in their attempt to regroup the child cadres and boost their perceived military strength.
Naxals looted six automatic weapons -- two AK-47s and as many INSAS and self loading rifles -- of the deceased personnel.
Amid controversy over the anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh, Home Minister P Chidambaram on said CRPF's role in the encounter was "transparent" and "upfront" but he was "deeply sorry" if any innocent person has been killed.
The Delhi battlefield may not be a cakewalk for the Rhodes Scholar.
The CoBRA team and other troops are still undertaking the operation.
Constables Anand Oraon and Sunder Singh have been awarded the PMG for thwarting smuggling bids by armed smugglers along the India-Bangladesh international border in West Bengal.
In an ominous development, Pakistan's ISI is making attempts to establish contacts with Naxals with the help of underworld don Chota Shakeel for carrying out subversive activities in the country and six people have been arrested so far in this connection.
A special squad of the anti-Naxal force recently undertook an operation in the jungles of Narayanpur district during which a UAV was not only able to pick up "real-time imagery" of movement of Naxal cadres but also relayed the conversation among them.
The Bihar government said it would further intensify anti-Naxal operations and rescue searches for the four abducted policemen, even as Maoists set an ultimatum to release their eight jailed cadres by Wednesday, failing which they would kill all the captives.
The Indian government will launch an offensive against Naxals in various states later this year using Indian Air Force helicopters for movement of troops and satellite images to carry out surgical strikes.
We strongly condemn the massacre of our patriotic security personnel by the Naxalites. Chhattisgarh is a state that has geared up to fight the menace of Naxalism more than any other state and yet this is a great setback to us to demoralise our operations. I stand here not to apportion the blame but to increase the resolve in the fight against Naxalism.
Seventeen security persons were injured in a powerful landmine blast between Remavand and Gulumpodo villages in Narayanpur district, the police said on Friday.
Security forces engaged in anti-Naxal operations in various states, including Chhattisgarh, have decided to get different variants of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ranging from small drones to long-range surveillance ones. Forces deployed in Maoist hotbeds of the country have recently begun to pick up ground conversation, movement and pictures with the help of these devices. Authorities say they are handy in cases where quick information is needed.
In a major haul, a whopping Rs 29 lakh were seized from a Maoist dump in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district, the police said on Tuesday.
Uncertainty prevailed over beginning of a joint operation against Naxalites in Orissa with the state government today accusing the Centre of not sending adequate paramilitary forces for the purpose.
An assortment of sophisticated weaponry belonging to security personnel, including 10 AK-series rifles, were carried off by the Naxals from the site of the encounter on Monday in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh which left 14 Central Reserve Police Force jawans dead and over a dozen others injured.
The roots of the problem lies in the alienation of the tribals. Extreme sensitivity is required to tackle the issues involved. Rough and ready methods of using force may prove counterproductive in the long run, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
A Maoist camp was busted and a cache of ammunition and explosive material recovered from the forests of Katulbharora in Chhattisgarh, police said on Friday.
