-Outlook Notwithstanding repeated attacks by Maoists, the Centre has decided to counter ultras through its development efforts in Naxal-affected areas as it believes such efforts will weaken the Red base. "We are making a special effort to bring development in the Naxal-affected areas. We are hoping that it will pay dividend," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh told PTI. Ramesh's contention comes just days after Naxalites planted a bomb inside the stomach of a...

-The Hindu IAF copter fired at as landing point was not sanitised; chopper and injured wireless operator abandoned There has hardly been a faux pas in anti-Naxal operations in recent months as discomfiting to the forces as Friday night’s tactless act in the Chintagufa area in south Chhattisgarh. Security officials unanimously agreed that there was a ‘serious lack of coordination’ among police, paramilitary and Indian Air Force personnel. On Friday afternoon, during a...

-The Indian Express Raipur: The Chhattisgarh Police has found that Maoists are at an advanced stage of developing indigenous propellers and rocket launchers, which not only means that their strategic strength is rising but also that they pose a serious threat to aircraft in the Bastar region. On Friday, for the first time, they managed to bring down an IAF helicoper, forcing it to crash-land in Sukma district of the state. There...

-The Indian Express Latehar: The villagers of Amwatikar, about 40 km from Latehar town, have alleged that security forces used their men, women and children as “human shields” and forced them to look for and recover the bodies of CRPF men killed in the encounter with Maoists last week. Four villagers were killed and a fifth was injured when they were trying to recover the body of a CRPF personnel which had...

-The Indian Express The audacity of the Latehar ambush, which ended with Maoists implanting explosive devices inside the corpses of CRPF men, comes amid security forces’ claims that the rebels are a declining force. What was probably the cruellest ever assault on security forces came at a time police in several states were praising themselves for having contained Maoists. Over the last 14 months, Maoist violence had declined partly because they had...