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.
Accepting that it suffered casualties in the Narayanpur encounter, Maoists said on Friday that three of their commanders were killed in the retaliatory fire by the Central Reserve Police Force.
Four securitymen, including two Central Reserve Police Force personnel, were killed when Naxalites triggered a powerful improvised explosive device blast in a marketplace in Perilimili village in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra when they were out shopping.
'We are dealing with a very difficult social situation. It needs a lot of maturity, patience and self control,' says Lt Gen V G Patankar (retd).
The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to rights activist Binayak Sen, who has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a Chhattisgarh trial court for sedition and helping Naxalites to set up a network to fight the state.
'Unless they create some spectacular event people don't take cognisance of them. So they will select targets that will give them publicity and prominence,' says Lt Gen D B Shekatkar (retd).
The Bharatiya Janata Party said the first anniversary of the United Progressive Alliance-II was marked by "disappointment and betrayal of common man" and that price rise, corruption and surge in Naxal violence were the "achievements" of the government which could complete one year by "misusing" the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad held that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who has described Maoists as "biggest terrorists", responsible for the spread of Maoism in his state.
Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram said on Friday that the progress of the on-going operation against the Maoists in the Naxal-hit states was "satisfactory"."The joint operation against the Naxalites is few weeks old and the progress has been satisfactory," Chidambaram told media-persons after a high-level meeting convened in Raipur to review the operation.
From scams and inflation to recession and a delay in reopening of colleges for the new academic year, find out what affected young Indians the most.
About 300 to 400 Naxalites carried out the attacks on the camps of the paramilitary personnel at Chintangufa, where 75 CRPF men and a policeman were killed in the worst Maoist strike two weeks ago, Kanker Lanka, Potampalli and Bheji in quick succession beginning at around 1930 hours, sources said.
A one-man inquiry committee appointed to probe the recent Naxalite attack in Chhattisgarh which killed 76 police personnel, has begun investigation and will visit the spot next week and interact with injured jawans and officials in Dantewada.
Young men who are injured or martyred in the line of duty have been reduced to statistics in news reports. Archana Masih reports on the injured security personnel recovering from a deadly Naxalite ambush in Chhattisgarh and looks at the lives behind those numbers.
A huge cache of explosives, including 40,000 to 45,000 detonators and 10 quintal of ammonium nitrate, meant for Maoists were recovered from Bihar's Naxalite-hit Rohtas district on Saturday.
'The cities are not safe, Naxals will reach them very soon,' feels Mahendra Karma, the tribal leader who championed the controversial Salwa Judum against the Naxalites.
'When Maoists say that a protracted, violent, armed way is the only way to capture power then what is the way out except confronting them as a state,' asks Chhattisgarh DGP Vishwa Ranjan.
Ten security personnel were killed and as many injured in a landmine explosion triggered by Maoists in Orissa's Koraput district on Sunday, the police said.
The Chhattisgarh high court on Thursday rejected the bail application of rights activist Binayak Sen, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court on charges of sedition and links with Naxalites.
If the government can act against sympathisers of Naxalites, it should act against khap sympathisers too, Supreme Court advocate Kamini Jaiswal tells Sreelatha Menon
The Andhra Pradesh government defended in the Supreme Court its controversial decision to deploy elite anti-Naxatite squad 'Greyhounds' to quell the volatile Telangana agitation in Hyderabad's Osmania University campus on Thursday.
Maoists on Thursday attacked a police station and the house of a Congress leader in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, killing two of his relatives and leaving two others injured, including his son. Armed Naxalites struck at the Kuakonda police station in the district in the wee hours of Thursday. The policemen retaliated by opening fire. According to the police, six Naxals were killed in the attack, but their bodies are yet to be recovered.
RJD candidate from Maneka constituency in the poll-bound Jharkhand Ramchandra Singh and his aide were on Friday kidnapped by suspected naxalites in Latehar's Dhanukua village.
The actress on Red Alert-The War Within and more.
The Central Reserve Police Force contingent, which lost 27 of its men while returning after having escorted their colleagues going on leave, were fired upon by heavily-armed Naxalites from treetops and nearby hillocks in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district on Tuesday.
The surrendered Naxal said such arguments and counter-arguments led to internal dispute. "I felt suffocated and a sense of remorse started setting in."
Monday's Naxalite attack on a joint forces camp in Silda, West Midnapore, has left the West Bengal government red-faced and the Union home ministry livid. At least 24 paramilitary jawans of the Eastern Frontier Rifles were killed last evening.
The Bengal intelligentsia that stood by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee is now divided on how to resolve the fracas at Lalgarh -- a generic name that represents the Naxal-stricken tribal heartland of West Bengal.
'He may be good on a corporate board but he certainly does not make a good home minister in this situation,' says Professor Nandini Sundar, a leading thinker on the Maoist debate.
'He may be good on a corporate board but he certainly does not make a good home minister in this situation,' says Professor Nandini Sundar, a leading thinker on the Maoist debate.
A day after the bullet-riddled body of an abducted policeman was found, Maoists on Saturday said that the three other hostages with them were safe and called for talks as "time was running out" even as police arrested two Naxalites and expanded combing operations to fresh areas in Bihar to trace them.
The Naxal violence, which is spreading at an alarming rate and is regarded as the biggest internal challenge to the country's security, will come up for discussion during the ongoing Army Commanders' Conference on Tuesday.
The Maoist attack near Dantewada in Chhattisgarh is the fifth major strike by Naxals in the country this year.
At least two civilians, including a woman, were killed and eight security personnel injured in a landmine blast triggered by Maoists in Orissa's Koraput district on Saturday. "Two civilians were killed and eight members of the elite anti-Naxalite Special Operation Group injured in the landmine blast incident today morning," said Deputy Inspector General (southern range) Sanjeev Panda. The incident took place at Jugipalur area today morning.
Adding more fuel to the raging debate over tackling the Naxalite menace, Congress president Sonia Gandhi emphasised on addressing the "root cause" of the problem. The Congress has always maintained Naxalism as a socio-economic problem and asked for development initiatives in tribal areas to isolate the insurgents.
The MP of Kanker, Chhattisgarh, on why local support is needed to counter the Naxals.
At least seven jawans have been killed and 13 others have been injured after Naxalites blew up a vehicle of the Central Reserve Police Force vehicle in a landmine attack in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday.
'The song says that liquor should not be sold by the government. The government should stop people from drinking.' 'I am working for a social cause. I am not doing anything wrong. We have moved a petition in the high court to quash the FIR against me.' 'It is a people's movement. There is no Naxalite involvement here.' Singer Kovan, who was arrested on sedition charges for protesting against the Tamil Nadu governments liquor policy, speaks out.
A Maoist was killed and four men, including two Central Reserve Police Force personnel, were injured in a fierce gunbattle between security forces and Naxalites at Bandu village in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand on Friday.
A human rights advocate based in Chhtaisgarh was allegedly picked up by the local police for being a "Naxalite supporter".
The bodies of four police officials, who were abducted on Monday by Naxals, were found in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bijapur district on Wednesday.
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