India to review anti-Maoist strategy after rebels kill 35

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NEW DELHI, May 18 (AFP): India is to review its anti-Maoist strategy, a government minister said in comments broadcast Tuesday, after rebels killed 35 people in a landmine attack on a bus.
Monday's blast in the central state of Chhattisgarh tore the front off the bus, killing 24 civilians and 11 police personnel.
The attack occurred in Dantewada district -- a Maoist stronghold where rebels ambushed and killed 75 policemen last month in the bloodiest massacre of security forces by the extremists.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who was to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday, argued that the high civilian death toll in the bus attack meant the time had come to "redraft" counter-insurgency strategy.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram -- under intense public pressure to step up the fight against the rebels -- acknowledged that changes were needed and said he would request wider powers.
"I took to the cabinet committee the case for a larger mandate. I was given a limited mandate. Now we will go back to the cabinet committee to revisit that mandate," Chidambaram told the NDTV television channel.