More than 380 civilians have fallen to Maoist bullets in the first five months of this year, with West Bengal bearing the most brunt.
According to statistics compiled by the Union home ministry and circulated among affected states, Maoists killed approximately 600 people, including paramilitary and state police personnel, between January 1 and May 30. The count was the highest in West Bengal at 291. Of these, 230 were civilians and the remaining state and central paramilitary personnel.
A senior official in the West Bengal home department said the reason for the high casualty in the state was the recent Gyaneshwari Express sabotage that took 148 lives.
Barring the Gyaneshwari victims, a majority of civilians killed by Maoists in Bengal were CPI(M) workers suspected to be police informers.
The second most casualties were in Chhattisgarh, where 202 people were killed by the ultra-red guerillas in the said period. The civilian toll in the state, however, was comparatively low at 91. Jharkhand and Orissa lost 50 people each to the Maoist menace. Of these, 34 and 30 were civilians.
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