No Army to Maoist-hit states: A K Anthony

After the deadly naxal attack on Congress leaders that claimed 27 lives in Chhattisgarh, A including that of PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel,A the Centre has rushed in over 2,000 additional paramilitary personnel to the state. However, defence minister A K Anthony made it clear that army will not be deployed in Maoist hit states. The forces were awarded after the Chhattisgarh government sought more forces to increase security to politicos and to strengthen anti-naxal operations. The para military forces will arrive in the state in a day or two. Chhattisgarh already has a strong paramilitary presence of around 30,000 personnel to curb anti-naxal operations across the state. Chhattisgarh is under the red terror zone and is the worst affected due to maoist violence. Close to 1900 lives have been lost in last eight years of which around 570 were civilians, 700 security personnel and the rest were Naxal cadres. The Naxals on Saturday engaged themselves in one of the worst ambush in recent times in theA state's Bastar district, whereA 27 people were killed including Congress leader Mahendra Karma,A PCC chief Patel, his son Dinesh, and ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar and injuring 32 others, including former Union Minister V C Shukla.