Police identified one of those dead as Mahendra Karma, a Congress party leader in Chhattisgarh who founded a local militia, the Salwa Judum, to combat the Maoist rebels.
NPR: Suspected Rebels Kill 24; India Officials Outraged
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Among those killed were Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and Mahendra Karma, a party leader who founded the government-backed militia, known as Salwa Judum, to fight Maoist rebels.
WSJ: India Antiterror Agency to Probe Deadly Maoist Attack
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Dantewada has become the main focus of the war with the Naxalites, following the emergence in the district, a year ago, of an anti-Maoist movement, known as Salwa Judum.