-The Hindu The kidnap of a District Collector in Chhattisgarh even as the Odisha hostage crisis remains unresolved suggests the Maoists are looking at soft ways of escalating their ongoing war against the Indian state. This targeting of non-combatants, even if they are officials or representatives of the state, must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. That it directly refutes the Maoist claim to be battling for a higher purpose...

Some CRPF jawans in the Jungle Mahal have embarked on a new operation, but in classrooms. The force has started English coaching centres in half a dozen primary schools in the rebel-infested zone as part of its exercise to improve relations with villagers. The centres were opened on April 8 in six schools in Buripala, Pirakata, Patharkumkumi, Deuldanga and Satpati in Salboni and Jhitka in Lalgarh. A CRPF officer said since the situation...

-The Times of India GUWAHATI: Hundreds of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) activists were prevented by police from staging a demonstration in the Golaghat district on Saturday. KMSS claimed that four of their members were injured when police used force to stop their procession, which was heading towards the sub-division office. The activists were also detained. "We were about 300 people in the procession. We planned the protest after the district administration...

-The Hindustan Times   Helicopters were kept on standby for casualty evacuation; targets were chosen with care after studying satellite images and the troops were warned — the encounters would be fierce and the naxals could be in the hundreds, even thousands. After weeks of planning, security forces armed with automatic rifles, satellite phones and Swedish Carl Gustav rocket launchers made their very first foray into the dense Abujhmad jungle, straddling the...

-The Telegraph Srinagar’s city centre today turned bunker-free for the first time since militancy erupted two decades ago, but it coincided with a firing incident in which a policeman fell to a militant’s bullet in the old city. Sukhpal Singh, an assistant sub-inspector, was shot dead from point-blank range at Darish Kadal while on duty at the Baghyas Chattabal post. A police officer said Singh was drenched in blood when he was shifted...