-The Telegraph Hyderabad: As rights groups accused the anti-Maoist militia Salwa Judum of atrocities on Chhattisgarh's villagers, its founder Mahendra Karma kept insisting his only aim was to "liberate" the tribals from the rebels' tyranny and propaganda. The future of the government-backed vigilante group, which still survives unofficially despite a Supreme Court order to disband it, now looks bleak after the Maoists killed Congress tribal leader Karma yesterday. The Salwa Judum (whose name...

-The Hindu Raipur: Launching the Congress party's ‘Parivartan Yatra' (March for Change) on Thursday in Bastar, a senior Central Minister, Jairam Ramesh, compared Mahendra Karma, the tribal leader, with a "slow tiger." "Mahendra Karma was called the ‘Bastar Tiger.' But the tiger has slowed down over the years," said the Minister in the presence of Mr. Karma and about two thousand Gond tribals. Sitting on the dais, Mr. Karma's reactions changed...

-The Telegraph The Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh has jolted the security establishment, which was till recently celebrating recent successes against the rebels. Union home ministry sources said the massacre would go a long way in repairing the shattered morale of Maoist cadres, who were on the defensive following a coordinated blitzkrieg by the central and state police forces. Sustained security operations in the past three years had reduced the 39-member central committee of...

-The Hindu JAGDALPUR: With semi-automatic weapons slung over their shoulders, these soldiers are more than just patrolling arterial village roads. They are in the midst of full-scale battles in which several people, mostly non-combatants, are getting killed. Forces have been mobilised in their thousands; dehydrated soldiers are getting evacuated by the Indian Air Force; corpses are removed in huge tractors meant for transporting farm produce; and Maoists are intensifying coordination at...

-The Hindu Raipur: "The villagers gathered in one particular area for community dining, which is a ritual at this time of the year. It is part of the seed festival and there were no Maoists around. The forces opened fire without any provocation," said a local on condition of anonymity. Locals of Chhattisgarh's Edesmeta village - where at least nine persons were killed during a gun battle late on Friday purportedly between...