Security forces intensify search operations in Vishakhapatnam after Maoist attack
30 Jun 2008, 1444 Hrs

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Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), June 30 (ANI): Security forces intensified search operations in Vishakhapatnam today, after 30 policemen were feared drowned in a boat capsize, in Orissa's Malkangiri District following a Maoist attack on Sunday.

The boat was ferrying 62 policemen of the 'Gray Hound' force from Andhra Pradesh, after completing a combing operation in Orissa.

During the search operations in Vishakhapatnam, police recovered a huge cache of land mines and other explosive devices.

The Maoists are highly active across a wide swathe of India, including the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. They are also active in some areas of Orissa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Since 2005, more people have been killed in Naxal-related violence than in Kashmir or the Northeast.

Naxalism has spread to more than 150 of India's 600 districts. Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are the worst-affected states.

Since January 2006, Chhattisgarh has recorded over 500 deaths in Naxal-related violence.

They claim to be fighting for the rights of poor peasants and landless labourers and routinely call strikes, attack Government property and target local politicians.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the four-decade-old Maoist rebellion, which has claimed the lives of thousands of people, as the biggest threat to the country's internal security.

Singh has appealed to the States to pool in their resources and crush the leftist rebellion.

Further, the Union Home Ministry plans to tackle this problem by helping the states raise 35 India Reserve Battalions (IRB) to crush the rebels.

However it is still at a nascent stage. (ANI)