
Four Naxals killed in Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat during encounter, arms recovered
In a major encounter with security forces, four Naxals were shot dead in the Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday as all efforts are on to wipe out the Naxalites from the country. The deceased included one male and three female naxalites. A cache of arms was also seized from them. The operation is still underway despite heavy rains in the region. advertisement
This marks the highest number of naxalites being killed in Madhya Pradesh so far in a year. The earlier high was six in a year. However, the Madhya Pradesh Police has touched the double-figure mark in just five and a half months. India's decades-long battle against left-wing extremism is entering its final stage, with security agencies confirming a near-complete dismantling of the Communist Party of India (Maoist)'s leadership.According to Bastar IG Sundarraj Pattilingam, only four Politburo members and 18 Central Committee members remain active, most of whom are either in hiding or too old to operate effectively.Earlier this year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had outlined his government's multi-pronged strategy to entirely eliminate the threat of Naxals in India by March 2026. Must Watch
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Hans India
27 minutes ago
- Hans India
CRPF jawan martyred in IED blast
Bhubaneswar: A CRPF jawan was martyred following a blast during an anti-Naxal operation at Odisha-Jharkhand border on Saturday morning, officials said. ASI Satyaban Kumar Singh (34) of 134th CRPF battalion, who hailed from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, was part of a team that was searching Saranda forest at the inter-State border for explosives robbed by Maoists from a stone quarry on May 27. He sustained injuries on his left leg when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded around 6 am near K Balang village in Sundargarh district. He was taken to a hospital in Rourkela, where he succumbed to the injuries. The search operation was being conducted by a joint team of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Operations Group (SOG) of Odisha Police. About 5 tonnes of explosives were robbed from a stone quarry at Banko in Sundargarh by Maoists. While three-fourths of the explosives have been recovered so far, the security forces are continuing their search for the remaining gelatin packets. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi condoled the death of the CRPF official. 'Deeply saddened to know about the sacrifice of ASI Satyban Singh of CRPF in an IED blast during a combing operation at Odisha-Jharkhand border. He has set highest standard of service and courage by sacrificing his life for the security of the country. I pray for the eternal peace of the martyred jawan and express my condolences to the bereaved family,' he said in a post on X. The incident comes at a time when the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has intensified its fight against Naxals and counter-insurgency operations against cadres of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and other Maoist insurgents in the Red-belt corridor. Security forces have been targeting hideouts, intercepting movement routesand working to dismantle logistical support networks used by Maoist cadres. The Saranda forest, spread across the Odisha-Jharkhand border, has been facing the brunt of Naxalism for several years. While security operations have significantly reduced Naxal presence in many areas, pockets like Saranda continue to witness sporadic violence and pose operational challenges toforces deployed on the ground.


Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
NIA chargesheets 17 in 2024 Maoist attack on Chhattisgarh CRPF camp
Recruiting youth to 'wage a war against the state', organising 'dummy training camps' and 'conspiracy meetings', and keeping 'prohibited arms and ammunition and explosive materials' – these are the allegations against 17 people charged with the 2024 Maoist attack on three Central Reserve Police Force campus in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur. In its chargesheet, filed before a special court in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Friday named 17 people for the attack, of whom 16 are absconding. The single accused in custody is Sodi Baman @ Deval. The case relates to the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPF) new camp at Dharmavaram and two adjacent CRPF/CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) camps located along the northern bank of the Chintavagu River and Pamed, the southernmost village of Bijapur, on January 16, 2024. Traditionally part of south Bastar, this was for a decade considered the stronghold of Battalion No. 01 of the People's Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA), the armed wing of Communist Party of India (Maoist). The absconding accused include two Central Committee Members (CCM), two Special Zonal/ State Committee Members (SZC/SCM) and other top cadres of Battalion 1, Telangana State Committee and Pamed Area Committee. These accused also recruited youngsters to wage war against India, the NIA said. The chargesheet filed Friday before an NIA special court in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, was under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act, and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, an official statement from the NIA said. Armed with barrel grenade launchers (BGLs) and automatic weapons, the assailants — a group of 250-300 members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) — attempted to loot weapons and other belongings of the security forces from the camps, the NIA, which took over investigation into the case in February 2024, said, adding that 12 security personnel were injured in the attack. The NIA registered a case against 21 named and 250-300 unknown armed cadres of proscribed terrorist organisation CPI (Maoist). Investigations revealed that the chargesheeted accused had been involved in the recruitment of youth, as part of a criminal conspiracy to wage war against the democratically-elected government of India, the statement went on to say. 'They were in possession of prohibited arms, ammunition and explosive materials, and had organised and attended conspiracy meetings. They also established a dummy training camp as a replica of the target camps, imparted training and gave motivational speeches to their armed cadres to carry out an armed rebellion, besides conducting recce of the said camps and executing the final attacks,' the statement said. Asked about the significance of the CRPF camps, Inspector General for Bastar Range Sundarraj P told The Indian Express: 'The remarkable achievement of the camps was (that it was) facilitating the successful implementation of Chintavagu river bridge project, which had long remained a distant dream for local population. The civil transportation has begun in the area connecting Pamed to the district headquarters of Bijapur. Over time, more than 90 security personnel have attained martyrdom in the Pamed Basaguda-Awapalli-Usor axis due to various ambushes/IED blast incidents'.


Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Indus waters will be taken to Rajasthan, Pakistan to yearn for every drop: Amit Shah
File photo: Union home minister Amit Shah BHOPAL: Indus waters will be taken to Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar through canals within three years and irrigation facilities will benefit large areas even as Pakistan will crave every drop, Union home minister Amit Shah said Saturday. "In Pahalgam, they (Pakistan-backed) terrorists attacked (tourists) by asking about religion. Now they will crave food grains. They will have to ask for food from foreign countries," Shah said in Madhya Pradesh's Pachmarhi. His comments came against the backdrop of the Centre putting Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan "in abeyance" in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam attack. Addressing a three-day training session organised by Madhya Pradesh BJP for ministers, MPs and MLAs, Shah alluded to the recent controversy over state minister Vijay Shah's offensive remarks against Col Sofiya Qureshi. Qureshi was one of the faces of the media briefing on Operation Sindoor launched against Pakistan over the Pahalgam attack. "Think before you speak," the home minister cautioned BJP functionaries.