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

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

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.

ECONOMIST: India's deadly Maoists | The

Dr Sen has been outspoken about the ways the government is trying to tackle the Maoists in Chhattisgarh by backing a controversial civil militia of local tribals called Salwa Judum.

BBC: Dr Binayak Sen: Tribal doctor

Chhattisgarh's most notable counter-insurgency ploy, arming an anti-Maoist tribal militia, known as Salwa Judum or Peace March, was predictably a violent failure: displacing over 50, 000 villagers and acting as a recruiting sergeant for the Maoists.

ECONOMIST: India��s Naxalite insurgency