Timeline: Major Maoist attacks
Deadliest attacks by rebels Indian premier has called “first enemy”.
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| Maoists regularly target infrastructure including railway tracks [Reuters] |
June 29, 2010: Maoist fighters ambush an Indian police patrol killing 26 policemen and injuring many. The fighters took the patrol by surprise in a densely wooded area in the Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh state.
May 28, 2010: Maoists trigger blast on railway tracks in Midnapore district of eastern West Bengal state which derails the Gyaneshwari Express, killing at least 65 passengers and leaving over 150 injured.
April 6: Maoists kill 75 paramilitary police in an attack in the central state of Chhattisgarh.
April: Maoists trigger a landmine blast, killing 11 security personnel of the elite anti-Maois force Special Operations Group (SOG) in Koraput district of Orrisa.
February: Twenty-four personnel of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) are killed as Maoists attack their camp in Silda in West Midnapore district of West Bengal.
October 2009: Seventeen policemen are killed when Maoists ambush them at Laheri police station in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.
September 30, 2008: Maoists set ablaze Gram Panchayat offices at Korchi and Belgaon in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.
September 26: Maoists kill BJP MP from Balaghat Baliram Kashyap’s sons at Pairaguda village in Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh).
September 4: Maoists kill four villagers in a forest in Aaded village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district.
July 31: A special police officer and another person are killed by Maoists in Bijapur district.
July 27: Six people are killed when Maoists trigger a landmine blast at Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh.
July 23: A 40-year-old tribal leader is killed by Maoists at Ettapalli Taluka in Gadchiroli district.
July 18: Maoists kill a villager in Bastar and in a separate incident torch a vehicle used for road construction work in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.
June 23: A group of motorcycles carrying armed Maoists open fire on Lakhisarai district court premises in Bihar and free four of their comrades, including the self-styled Zonal Commander of Ranchi.
June 16: Maoists kill 11 police officers in a landmine attack followed by armed assault. In a separate attack, four policemen are killed and two others seriously injured when Maoists ambush them at Beherakhand in Palamau district.
June 13: Maoists launch two landmine and bomb attacks in a small town close to Bokaro, killing 10 policemen and injuring several others.
May 22: Maoists kill 16 policemen in the jungles of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra.
April 13: Ten paramilitary troops are killed in eastern Orissa when Maoists attack a bauxite mine in Koraput district.
February: Hundreds of Maoists come in buses and trucks, and lay siege of the district headquarters town in Orissa.
Fourteen police and one civilian are killed before the rebels burn a police training school.
2007: Maoists kill JMM MP (Lok Sabha) Sunil Kumar Mahato, his bodyguards and a party colleague while they are watching a football match at Bakuria village near Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.
Maoists attack a police outpost in Chattisgarh’s Rani Bodi village, killing 55 policemen. Twenty-four of the deceased belonged to the state police, while 31 others were Special Police Officers (SPOs).
Maoists free 303 prisoners in Dantewada.
March 2006: over 500 Maoists attack the Orissa state armed police camp in the Gajapati district of Orissa, killing three policemen. The killings are followed by looting of arms and the freeing of around 40 prisoners.
2005: Maoists lay virtual siege to Jehenabad town and free over 375 prisoners including 130 Maoists.
The operation continues for seven hours, resulting in the deaths of several Ranvir Sena men and police personnel. The rebels loot 185 rifles and 2000 rounds of ammunition.
2004: Over 1,000 Maoists attack Orissa’s district headquarters town of Koraput and loot 200 guns and other weapons.
2003: The TDP chief and then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu narrowly escapes a Maoists attack on his way to Tirupati on October 1, 2003.