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Four killed in Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh
In the other incident, militants shot dead three Salwa Judum activists in Bijapur area.
A trooper was killed while defusing a bomb while three members of the Chhattisgarh government backed civil militia movement Salwa Judum were gunned down in overnight clashes with Maoists, police said on Thursday.
Police have arrested 11 Maoist militants, including five women insurgents, in a stepped up offensive in Dornapal in the violence wracked Dantewada district since Wednesday afternoon.
"A CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) constable was killed and another cop injured seriously when a tiffin bomb went off during defusing process on Wednesday night in a forested stretch of Dantewada," said Bastar Range Inspector General RK Vij.
In the other incident, militants shot dead three Salwa Judum activists in Bijapur area.
Salwa Judum (Campaign for Peace) was launched in June 2005 to wipe out leftist insurgents holding sway in Bastar region for the past three decades.
Maoists, who launched a violent movement in 1967 from a West Bengal village, claim to fight for the rights of poor peasants and landless workers.
Chhattisgarh is one of the worst Maoist hit 13 Indian states, accounting for 48 per cent casualties of 749 Maoist-violence related deaths in India in 2006, says the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR).
