New Delhi: Naxals on an average kill at
least three persons in as many as six attacks every day.
In the first six months of this year, Maoists carried
out a total of 1,103 attacks, in which a total of 534 people
were killed.
This was disclosed by Home Minister P Chidambaram
while speaking at a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the
situation arising out of Maoist violence in the country.
In the first half of the year, Maoists perpetrated
1,103 incidents of violence, which turns out to be over six
attacks a day.
According to the data presented by the home minister,
the extremists have killed 325 civilians and 209 security
personnel during this period, which is equivalent to three
killings daily.
Among the civilians killed by Naxals, 142 were dubbed
as police informers -- a trend which saw 500 civilian killings
on average every year between 2004 and 2008.
The figure in 2009 was 591, of whom 211 alleged by
Maoists as police informers.
However, Maoists suffered 97 casualties during the
same period. A total of 1,341 ultras have also been
apprehended.
The major attacks by Naxals in this year included the
February 15 attack on a CRPF camp at Silda in West Bengal, the
Dantewada massacre on April six, Chingawaram bus attack and
the June 29 attack on security forces in Dhaudhai,
Chhattisgarh.
At least 20 paramilitary jawans were killed in the
Silda attack, while 75 CRPF personnel and one Chhattisgarh
policeman were killed when they were ambushed by over 1,000
Naxals in Dantewada forests.
The attack on civilian bus at Chingawaram on May 17
claimed the lives of 40 people, including that of 15 special
police officers, while at least 26 security forces personnel
were killed in an ambush near Dhaudhai on June 29 in the third
major attack in Chhattisgarh in the last three months.
Besides, there was the derailment of the Gynaneswari
Express by the ultras in Jhargram, West Bengal, that claimed
the lives of 149 innocent civilians.
PTI
