abstract:Salwa Judum (meaning "Peace March" or "Purification Hunt" in Gondi language) was a civilian militia mobilised and deployed as part of anti-insurgency operations in Chhattisgarh, India, aimed at countering Naxalite violence in the region. The militia consisting of local tribal youth received support and training from the Chhattisgarh state government.
Police identified one of those dead as Mahendra Karma, a Congress party leader in Chhattisgarh who founded a local militia, the SalwaJudum, to combat the Maoist rebels.
Among those killed were Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and Mahendra Karma, a party leader who founded the government-backed militia, known as SalwaJudum, to fight Maoist rebels.
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 SalwaJudum.