Three jawans of the Chhattisgarh police were killed and four others injured on Friday in an ambush set up by Naxals in Bastar district, a senior police official said in Raipur. Bastar Superintendent of Police Ratan Lal Dangi told PTI over the phone that the incident took place near Netanar village on Friday morning. The police team, from Darbha station, was heading for the village after receiving a report that Naxals had vandalised a guest house of the forest department.
The M-17 helicopter was forced to land in south Bastar after it evaded Naxal gunfire but developed hydraulic problems. The IAF crew left behind the operator and the damaged helicopter, raising a question mark on the decision of pilot and co-pilot.
The CRPF chief on Tuesday said the Maoists are "our own people" so the response against them has to be calibrated and "more humane" keeping this in mind.
Veteran Bollywood actor Om Puri, who drew flak for his controversial comments against parliamentarians, landed himself in another row by calling Naxals "fighters not terrorists".
Claiming responsibility for the deadly attack on a Congress convoy, Maoists on Tuesday said their main objective was to "punish" senior party leaders including Nand Kumar Patel and Mahendra Karma for their "anti-people" policies.
The Indian government said on Thursday that the use of Indian Air Force helicopters in any offensive against Naxals is not part of a strategy in its new plan to deal with rising Maoist violence.
A CoBRA company has about 100 personnel each.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad on Wednesday announced the arrest of a key Naxalite cadre who was arrested two days ago from Thane.
The government has decided to extend the Integrated Action Plan, a specially conceived development programme for worst Naxal-affected districts, for four more years with annual allocation of Rs 1,000 crore.
J S Verma, general manager of Essar Steel, was on Tuesday arrested for allegedly conspiring in funding Naxal groups in Dantewada area of Chhattisgarh.
Terming the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh as a 'holocaust', Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said the ultras resorted to such acts as they felt threatened with the pace of development work.
The IAF deployed five helicopters to evacuate casualties of the naxal attack on a Congress party function in Sukma district in Chhattisgarh and ferried 11 critically-injured persons to Raipur for treatment.
'Rahul should have learnt so much in the last 20 years. But give him a mic and he begins to talk without thinking about its consequences.'
Left-wing extremism is a greater challenge to the country than terrorism in terms of the number of lives lost in violence, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday. "Terrorism is a major challenge for the security and sovereignty of our country. But left-wing extremism is a greater challenge than terrorism in terms of the number of people killed in violence," Chidambaram said. "Ten times more people are killed in Naxal attacks than in terror strikes," he said.
Acting Director General of the CRPF, Sudeep Lakhtakia said the ambush has "naturally called for the revision of standard operating procedures" in these areas.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who inaugurated the DGPs/IGPs Conference in New Delhi on Thursday, accepted the responsibility for violent Naxal incidents and said it was the government's duty to set out the context in which such terrorist attacks take place.
A security personnel was killed and another got injured in an encounter with Naxalites in the Maoist-hit Sukma district of southern Chhattisgarh Friday.
The Central Reserve Police Force top boss on Thursday said he has asked his troops deployed in anti-Naxal operations to even go to the extent of "violating" the Standard Operating Procedures if such a diversion in rules is required for operational efficiency and safety of the men.
The scheme initiated by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs offers 100 per cent financial assistance to the naxal-affected States/Union Territories from the Centre for the purpose of benefiting students belonging to Scheduled Tribes and also primitive tribal groups, sources in the ministry said.
The Gadchiroli district bordering Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has been the hot-bed of Naxal activities in Maharashtra with the Maoist violence claiming 418 lives in the past three decades.
Maoist-chosen mediators discussed certain key demands of the rebels with hardcore Naxal leader Ganti Prasadam in Bhubaneswar on Monday, as negotiations for the release of the abducted Malkangiri district collector and a junior engineer reached a crucial stage.
Projects include steel plant & railway line; Modi's visit first by a PM to the tribal belt in 30 yrs
'Our Left is squeamish about democracy. They are so mechanical they have only dogma.'
In the wake of the recent killing of 15 police personnel by Naxals in Maharashtra, the Union Home Ministry has convened a high-level meeting on Thursday to discuss the internal security in that state as well in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.The director generals of police of the four Naxal-hit states have been summoned by the ministry for a thorough review of the prevailing situation there.
In the last four years, Naxal violence has cost more civilian lives than the conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states, a report released by the Asian Centre for Human Rights has said.The number of civilians killed between 2005 and 2008 in Naxal conflicts is 1,965.In comparison, the number of civilians killed in the strife-torn northeast is 1,666 and in Jammu and Kashmir is 1,195.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel resolved issues of merger of other princely states, but 'one person' could not resolve the Kashmir issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, in a veiled attack on India's first PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
The encounter, which took place in the jungles of Silger, a "liberated" Maoist zone between the naxal hotbed of Jagargunda and Basaguda in Dantewada, was launched on Thursday night by the CRPF from three directions.
Acting on a tip-off, commandos of anti-Naxal unit C-60 combed Sindesur forest area in Dhanora taluka and spotted a group of ultras who fired at them, triggering a gun battle at around 11 am
In a notification, the Union Home Ministry said an eligible beneficiary desirous of receiving the benefit under the 'Central Scheme for Assistance to Civilian Victims/Family of Victims of Terrorist/Communal/LWE Violence and Cross Border Firing and Mine/IED Blasts on Indian Territory' is required to furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar number or undergo Aadhaar authentication.
Maoists on Monday unleashed widespread violence claiming eight lives in West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa during their 24-hour Bharat bandh against United States President Barack Obama's India visit. While four persons fell to the bullets of Naxals in West Bengal, two each were gunned down in Bihar and Orissa.
Suspected Naxals fired at an Indian Air Force helicopter and injured a security man in the Maoist hotbed of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. According to preliminary reports, the helicopter was on a mission to airlift a few Central Reserve Police Force troopers when it was fired upon.
A Central Reserve Police Force official was injured on Monday when Naxals attacked a camp of paramilitary forces in insurgency-hit Sukma district in southern Chhattisgarh.
Ministry seeks more active role by state governments to address issues.
Tourist destinations have also come under the scanner of Naxalites as rebels detonated a powerful blast at one of the enchanting sites near Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh on Monday morning in a move aimed to unleash a reign of terror among visitors.
While there is every sign of grinding poverty in the villages, the towns of Bastar and Jagdalpur have big and bustling markets.
As his father takes on the Naxals in Chhattisgarh, Sopan Khosla has scored his own victory.
The PMG was announced by the Union home ministry on the occasion of the 74th Republic Day, being celebrated on January 26 (Thursday).
The local intelligence wing had suggested not to carry out large anti-Naxal operations in south Bastar forests, where the ultras recently killed 14 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, citing geographical complications and strong Maoist 'Jantana Sarkar' network, a senior police official said.
Three Naxals were killed on Tuesday in a gun-battle with security forces in Chhattisgarh's worst insurgency-hit Sukma district.
The Naxals attempted to blow up a vehicle transporting a police team in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, officials said. The extremists triggered a landmine blast when the van was passing by near Parleda village, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Avinash Mohanty told PTI by phone.
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