In a major blow to Maoists in Andhra Pradesh, two top leaders including Shakamuri Apparao - facing charges of making attempts on the lives of two former Andhra Pradesh chief ministers - were killed today in separate encounters in Prakasam and Warangal districts.

The inter-state anti-naxal operations along the Jharkhand-West Bengal border has led to unearthing of administrative and military unit of the Naxals.

"If we had the intention to kill Bhattacharjee we could have killed him. We could have used a directional mine to snap the high tension line to fall on his convoy," top Maoist leader Venkateshwar Reddy alias Telugu Dipak told his interrogators.

Maoists have plans to overthrow the Indian democracy through their armed struggle and want to control the government by 2050, Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai said on Friday.

A 17-year old girl from Jharkhand's Latehar district is fighting for her life after being shot at by Naxal guerrillas who had allegedly raped her.

A day after Home Minister P Chidambaram termed Maoist leader Kishenji's truce offer as "bizarre", the government extended an olive branch to the Left Wing extremists asking them to ensure ceasefire for 72 hours to facilitate talks.

Maoist leader Kishenji on Wednesday said his outfit was ready for talks with the Centre and demanded the release of his close aide Venkateswar Reddy, who was arrested from the southern fringes of Kolkata.

Top Maoist leader Vekanteshwar Reddy alias Telugu Dipak, a close aide of Kishenji, arrested from the metropolis had focused on Nandigram, a senior police official said today.

Three Maoist rebels, including a woman cadre, who were involved in a number of attacks in Orissa's Gajapati and Kandhamal districts, today surrendered before the police.

A police officer and a Maoist were killed and two others injured in a gunfight between the security forces and the ultras at Sarenga in Bankura district, police said today.

Responding to the ceasefire offer by Maoists, Government made it clear on Tuesday that it will not accept any pre-conditions for talks with "ifs and buts" and asked the militants to come out with a simple statement saying they will abjure violence.

One person was killed as Maoist-backed PCPA members exchanged fire with combined security forces at Naxalite stronghold Kantapahari in West Midnapore district late on Monday night, hours after top CPI (Maoist) leader Kishenji offered a 72-day ceasefire to the Centre and West Bengal.

The Maoists tonight made a conditional ceasefire offer asking the government to halt the offensive against them for 72 days and involve mediators for talks.

Three civil rights activists were named as naxal sympathisers in a chargesheet filed by Delhi Police against top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy, prompting a sharp reaction from the organisations they belong to.

Facing acute shortage of IPS cadres, the Home Ministry has dispatched 16 paramilitary officers on probation to Naxal-affected states to work as additional superintendents of police.

West Bengal government has ordered the suspension of Eastern Frontier Rifles’ Special IG Benoy Chakraborty for openly blaming the West Midnapore SP for the Maoist attack on a security camp on February 15.

Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) on Saturday claimed that its jawans had killed five of the Maoists who had stormed the Silda camp in West Midnapore and accused the police of 'misusing' the paramilitary force.

Concerned over the rising Maoists rampage, Home Minister P Chidambaram has written to Chief Ministers of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal inviting them for a meeting in Delhi to be assured that they are "on the same page" with the Centre before the launch of inter-state operations against the Naxals.

Maoists set free Dalbhumgarh BDO Prashant Kumar Layek today, a week after they kidnapped him from East Singhbhum district.

Coming out in support of Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram today said she was not "soft" on Maoists as being projected and her views do not affect the government's policies towards Naxals.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today admitted that there was definite lack of alertness on the part of the forces leading to the massacre of 24 jawans by Maoists in West Midnapore district.

Five days after the abduction of the Block Development Officer Prashant Kumar Layak, his wife awaits his safe release, after Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren appealed to the Maoists to set him free unharmed.

Striking for the second time this week, heavily-armed Maoists swooped down on Kasari village in the district, set afire thatched houses and fired a hail of bullets, leaving 12 tribals dead and eight others injured.

Maoists, who kidnapped Layek on Saturday, had earlier in the day demanded a statement from chief minister on their conditions to set the BDO free.

Heart-rending scenes were witnessed when bodies of the 24 EFR jawans, killed in Monday's deadly Maoist strike, were handed over to their relatives for last rites this morning at Salua camp, near Jhargram in West Bengal.