69 Naxal violence incidents till June: Government

NEW DELHI: A total of 69 incidents of Naxal violence and killing of 33 security forces personnel and civilians were reported from the 10 Left wing extremism-hit states of the country in the first six months of this year, Lok Sabha was informed today.

The maximum incidents at 53 and deaths (17 security men and 2 civilians) were reported from Chhattisgarh between January 1 and June 30, Minister of State for Home Hansraj G Ahir said in written reply.

Chhattisgarh, in number of incidents, was followed by Jharkhand (6), Maharashtra (5) and Odisha (2). Bihar, where 10 CRPF commandos were killed yesterday in a similar ambush, accounted for only one incident, death of one security personnel and injuries to two, during the said period.

While only one Naxal was reported to be killed during this period in all the LWE-affected states, a total of 1,006 were arrested.

Sixty security men were injured during the said period in the ten Naxal-violence affected states, the data said.

It data said a total of 118 such incidents were reported last year, slightly less than the corresponding figure of 155 in 2014. A total of 35 security personnel and civilians were killed last year as compared to 96 in 2014.