US civil rights group indicted over use of paid informants

The German government on Wednesday is expected to cut its growth forecast for this year as the energy shock triggered by the Middle East war hammers Europe's biggest economy.

Hopes had been high that the eurozone's traditional growth engine would sputter back to life in 2026 after a long decline, driven by Chancellor Friedrich Merz's public spending blitz.

But the jump in oil and gas prices since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran have dealt the economy a heavy blow, pushing up overall inflation and raising costs for the country's crucial manufacturers.

At the start of April, leading economic institutes already slashed their growth predictions for this year to 0.6 percent from a September forecast of 1.3 percent. 

Economy Minister Katherina Reiche is also expected to announce a hefty cut when she unveils the government's new estimate at 1215 GMT.

The government's last official forecast in January predicted the economy would expand one percent this year. 

"The German economy will face a significant burden over an extended period," Merz warned last week as his government unveiled 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in fuel price relief for households and businesses.

Before the Iran war, the economy was just getting back on its feet after the energy shock triggered by the Ukraine war and last year's US tariff blitz.

The renewed surge in energy prices is a particular burden for Germany's heavy industry, in sectors ranging from steel to chemicals. 

Knock-on effects, like supply chain snarls that are delaying delivery of vital base products, are weighing on industry, while consumers are facing higher costs, especially at the petrol pump.

Inflation jumped to 2.7 percent in March, its highest level in over two years. 

- Investor morale plunges -

Surveys highlight the darkening picture. 

A poll this week showed that German investor morale hit its lowest level in April since late 2022, when the country was battling the fallout from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The government is scrambling to respond. As well as the relief on fuel prices, Merz has announced that businesses can pay workers a tax-free bonus of up to 1,000 euros. 

Still, many economists and business groups have criticised the measures as ill conceived, saying they are not well enough directed at needy groups.

They are calling on the government to instead focus on pushing through deep reforms to areas like healthcare, pensions and bureaucracy that they argue can help spur growth in the long term.

"You cannot cushion a shock like this with tax money or bonus payments," Peter Leibinger, president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), said this week.

"The state cannot insure citizens and companies against every external crisis," he said. "The only insurance is growth-oriented policies that enable investment."

Businesses have meanwhile become increasingly frustrated with Merz's coalition. 

The chancellor, who took power in May last year, promised to revive the economy through huge public outlays on defence and infrastructure and a barrage of reforms. 

But the spending has moved slowly and structural overhauls have made little headway, bogged down by lengthy talks between his centre-right CDU party and its coalition partners, the centre-left SPD.

The coalition is promising to push through an ambitious programme before parliament's summer recess, though critics doubt what can realistically be achieved so quickly.

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Pakistan's capital was still locked in gear on Wednesday to host high-stakes US-Iran talks that were pushed back at the last minute overnight, but many residents began to tire of the heavy personal and economic toll of tight security restrictions.

Markets were quiet, government officials worked from home, children attended class online and security forces enforced strict curbs on entering the vast "red zone" around the negotiating venue. 

US Vice President JD Vance had been expected to arrive on Wednesday morning but the White House abruptly changed plans, with Iran's negotiating delegation also delaying a decision on attending talks.

Many residents hoped that negotiations would bring an end to road closures and other restrictions throughout the capital, with some areas under virtual lockdown.

Initial public euphoria over Pakistan's image being burnished on the global stage has begun to give way to fraying patience after weeks of stop-start restrictions around Islamabad.

"We have to live here, the Red Zone has been shut down. Children cannot go to school, and shops are closed from time to time," said office worker Zainab Ali Uthmankhail, 27.

"Personally I do find it very annoying. My time is wasted. Transport fares have increased. But I am happy that we are doing something positive," she said.

- No customers -

Similar measures were enforced for a first round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad this month, and some restrictions were never lifted.

That round of negotiations ended without an agreement, but US President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire on Wednesday as feverish diplomacy continued to end the Middle East War that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

Major roads have been closed in recent days to facilitate the arrival of foreign delegations and US cargo planes delivering equipment.

Islamabad residents are used to restrictions and road closures, having lived through periods of militant attacks, political protests and visits by heads of state.

But the intensity and stop-start nature of this month's measures have pushed some to the limit, especially the many small business owners and daily wage workers whose incomes have been slashed in an already struggling economy.

"The impact of the lockdown is that we are not seeing any customers here in the market... the government does not know what one day of their lockdown does to our households," Muhammad Ahsan, 35, the owner of a small jewellery kiosk, said this week.

"Our stoves do not run, we do not find food (in the markets)."

Large businesses were also affected, with major oil refiner Attock announcing it was pausing production at a key unit due to transport disruptions.

Many in Islamabad nonetheless were proud of their country's role in navigating a possible end to weeks of fighting that has killed thousands and thrown the global economy into turmoil.

However, they also braced themselves for more disruption.

"We are giving a small sacrifice to reduce the size of the larger sacrifice," said Syed Umar Hasnain Shah, a young doctor. "So we will continue to sacrifice."

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Saffron-robed Buddhist monks began a week-long peace walk across Sri Lanka on Wednesday, accompanied by a rescued stray dog that has become a celebrity in its own right.

Led by Vietnamese monk Pannakara, the group of 13 launched their march at dawn from a historic Buddhist temple in Dambulla, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of the capital Colombo.

The monks shot to international fame during a longer 108-day walk of 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) from Texas to Washington, DC, travelling through freezing temperatures and along ice-covered roads.

In sharp contrast, they are now walking barefoot on Sri Lanka's roads at the hottest time of the year, when temperatures can reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Devotees poured water on the streets, while some laid green banana leaves and flowers for the monks to walk on to escape the scorching heat. Others were seen sprinkling water to cool them.

The group, promoting "peace for all beings, including animals", was expected to reach the capital on April 28, where they will be received by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, organisers told AFP.

Guarded by elite army commandos, their mascot Aloka -- a stray dog rescued in India -- walked on a leash, drawing bows and clasped hands from devotees lining the route.

Aloka had accompanied the monks in their peace walk in the United States.

The dog followed the monks in India and remained with them even after being hit by a car.

Aloka later accompanied the monks on their US journey, drawing global attention and donations that helped fund its travels.

"The cost of flying Aloka to Colombo from Texas was ten times that of an ordinary passenger taking the same route," a Sri Lankan monk handling local arrangements said.

Two army commandos were seen walking on either side of Aloka at the head of the quick-paced procession.

Sri Lanka's police kennels department was mobilised to ensure that local street dogs did not attack Aloka, who was led on a leash held by an army commando.

The peace walk's Facebook page has more than three million followers. A live stream of their Sri Lanka walk drew over 51,000 views in the first five hours.

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NASA unveiled a new telescope on Tuesday to scan vast swathes of the universe for planets outside our solar system and probe the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.

The Roman space telescope is expected to discover tens of thousands of planets, possibly offering clarity abut how many could be out there.

"Roman will give the Earth a new atlas of the universe," NASA administrator Jared Isaacman told a news conference at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, where the telescope went on display.

The 12-metre (39-feet), silvery contraption with massive solar panels will be transported to Florida ahead of a launch into space aboard a SpaceX rocket planned for September at the earliest.

Roman, which took more than $4 billion and over a decade to build, is named after astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, nicknamed the "Mother of Hubble" for her role in developing the landmark space telescope.

Thirty-six years after Hubble launched into space, revolutionizing astronomical observations, NASA hopes Roman will help to shed light on questions that remain unresolved.

Boasting a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble's, the telescope will sweep across vast regions of space from its position 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) from Earth.

The telescope will send 11 terabytes of data a day down to Earth, said Mark Melton, a systems engineer at Goddard Space Flight Center.

"In the first year, we'll have sent down more data than Hubble will have for its entire life," he told AFP.

The telescope's wide-angle lens will allow NASA to conduct a census of the objects that make up our universe, said Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

"Roman will discover tens of thousands of new planets outside our solar system. It will reveal billions of galaxies, thousands of supernovae and tens of billions of stars," she said.

This wealth of information will enable NASA to tease out areas of interest that can then be investigated by complementary telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope.

- Study the invisible -

But Roman will also study the invisible -- dark matter and dark energy, whose origins remain unknown but which are thought to constitute 95 percent of our universe.

Dark matter is believed to be the glue that holds galaxies together, while dark energy pulls them apart by making the universe expand faster and faster over time.

Thanks to its infrared vision, the telescope will be able to observe light emitted by celestial bodies billions of years ago, effectively looking back in time to hopefully discover more about the two phenomena.

Complementing the work of Europe's Euclid space telescope and the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, Roman will probe "how the dark matter structures itself throughout cosmic time" and "calculate how fast galaxies are moving away from us," Darryl Seligman, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Michigan State University, told AFP.

These discoveries could fundamentally change our understanding of the structure of our universe, said astrophysicist Julie McEnery, who led the Roman project.

"If Roman wins a Nobel Prize at some point, it's probably for something we haven't even thought about or questioned yet," said Melton.

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For nearly two years, Al-Shubbak watched through ancient grey eyes as Tuti, the crescent-shaped island in the heart of the Sudanese capital she calls home, emptied of its inhabitants under a punishing paramilitary siege.

She refused to leave.

"I didn't even move for the English when they colonised us," she told AFP through a toothless smile, a year after the army broke the siege, and 70 after the British occupation of Khartoum ended.

She recited an old battle cry that her daughter, who doesn't know exactly how old her mother is, repeated: "Our fathers resisted the occupiers with stones. Though they met them with gunfire, they still could not take Tuti the green."

Located where the White Nile, flowing from Uganda, meets the Blue Nile from Ethiopia, Tuti is across the river from where war first broke out in April 2023, between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

In recent months, many residents have returned home to the island, besieged from June 2023 until March 2025, when the army recaptured the capital.

Shops have reopened and farmers have come back to their land, which historically supplied much of Khartoum's fresh produce from its fruit orchards and vegetable fields.

On a Friday afternoon, villagers flocked to the old red-brick mosque, where a rusted sign reads "established 1480".

In times past, crowds would gather in plastic chairs at the edge of the island, sipping tea with their feet in the Nile, the very first spot where it becomes one river flowing north to Egypt.

Now, authorities say that same spot is a minefield, and the islanders are scarred by their days living in an open-air prison.

"Nothing could get in or out without the RSF saying so," said 34-year old day labourer Salaheldin Abdelqader, who escaped seven months into the siege and returned last year.

To get anything in -- food, medicine, fuel to power water pumps -- islanders had to pay off RSF fighters who controlled the only bridge. And they could only leave after forking out a toll for safe passage.

For Abdelqader, that was 350,000 Sudanese pounds (now around $90), more than double a doctor's monthly salary.

- 'Guard our soil' -

Sheikh Mohamed Eid, a local elder who sounded the alarm over Tuti's plight on social media, said that during the war residents were "forced to leave at gunpoint" and pay to do so "with our own money".

In accordance with government media regulations, AFP was accompanied by an army officer, who stepped out of earshot during interviews.

A stout man with a head wrap piled high on his brow, Eid spoke at length of the people's connection to their island, from which former president Omar al-Bashir's government repeatedly tried to relocate them to build luxury investments.

"We're like fish in the water, we can't survive outside Tuti," he told AFP in his home, the sky visible through a hole in the roof where an artillery shell tore through.

After two months using donations to pay the RSF double or triple to get goods onto the island so people wouldn't starve, Eid was detained by the paramilitaries.

Thrown into one notorious jail after another, he watched other incarcerated islanders die, one by one, before his release nine months later.

The RSF's siege slowly choked the life out of Tuti. Eventually, of an estimated 30,000 people, only Shubbak's family remained, caring for the bedridden matriarch.

"We stayed to guard our soil," her daughter Najat al-Nour, a Quran professor in her fifties who lifted her chin high to admonish those who left.

"A mistake," she snapped.

- Bittersweet –

But Nosayba Saad had no choice. She and her family endured a year and a half of RSF rule, during which fighters repeatedly entered peoples homes, demanding gold and phones and accusing them of spying for the army.

When she tried to talk to the fighters, "they told me to keep quiet or they'd empty their guns at me," she said.

At night, she would hear them in her neighbour's empty homes, firing seemingly at nothing. "A lot of people died from stray bullets," she said.

By the time her family paid to leave in October 2024, the RSF had taken to stealing food and cash as well.

She didn't think she would see her home again.

"Now our street is almost full, and more people are on their way," she said with an incredulous laugh. A bashful smile lighting up her face.

But her joy was bittersweet. Two of her uncles are missing and presumed dead, while every family on the island has lost someone.

"Still, being together with our people again, coming home is such a blessing," she said, as the smell of incense wafted through her house, out towards jasmine trees in bloom.

In the fields beyond, a squash farmer trudged home, a sack slung over his shoulder heavy with his harvest.

To the south loomed the ruins of Khartoum, bombed out skyscrapers a constant reminder of the terror now past.

But to the west, where the setting sun made the Nile glow orange, the island seemed as it once was.

A fisherman packed up his rods next to family who picnicking on the waterfront.

A couple, out for a stroll, asked an AFP journalist to take a photo of them, a memento of a nice date back on their island home.

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Britain's annual inflation rate jumped to 3.3 percent in March as the Middle East war sent oil and gas prices surging, official data showed Wednesday.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) increased from 3.0 percent in the 12 months to February, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

"Inflation climbed in March, largely due to increased fuel prices, which saw their largest increase for over three years," Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said in a statement. 

Finance minister Rachel Reeves reiterated the Labour government's opposition to a conflict that has increased the cost of living for millions of Britons.

"This is not our war, but it is pushing up bills for families and businesses. That's why it's my number one priority to keep costs down," Reeves said in a statement.

On Tuesday, she announced a plan to raise the government's windfall tax on low-carbon electricity generators to 55 percent from 45 percent in a bid to support households and businesses.

However, she has resisted calls to directly lower energy costs for consumers.

At 3.3 percent, the latest UK inflation figure matches the March reading for the United States. But the pace of the CPI increase in the world's biggest economy was far sharper, having stood at 2.4 percent in February.

Britain's inflation rate is also much larger than in the eurozone, where annual inflation rose to 2.6 percent in March from 1.9 percent in February.

Energy prices have skyrocketed since the US-Iran war began on February 28, though they have since pulled back on a ceasefire that US President Donald Trump extended Tuesday. 

But oil and gas prices remain far above their pre-war levels as Gulf supplies remain largely blocked from transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

- Interest rate outlook -

Analysts said that despite the rising UK inflation, the Bank of England would likely resist raising its main interest rate at a regular meeting next week -- and possibly for the rest of the year -- with the country's economic growth set to weaken owing to the war.

"While the increase in prices will be felt keenly at the petrol pump, it is highly unlikely a single inflation print will be enough to sway policy makers into moving the Bank of England base rate," said Emma Wall, chief investment strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown.

The International Monetary Fund has sharply downgraded its forecast for Britain's economic output this year because of the conflict, estimating growth of 0.8 percent rather than expansion of 1.3 percent it predicted in January.

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American AI developer Anthropic said Tuesday it was investigating unauthorized access to Mythos, its powerful model which the company itself worries could be a boon for hackers.

Anthropic said earlier this month it restricted the release of Mythos to 40 major tech firms to give them a head start in fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities before they could be exploited by attackers.

According to Bloomberg, which first reported the probe, a small group of users in a private, online forum gained access to the model via the computer system reserved for Anthropic's external vendors.

"We're investigating a report claiming unauthorized access to Claude Mythos Preview through one of our third-party vendor environments," an Anthropic spokesperson told AFP.

The users got hold of Mythos by various means, including using access one of them had as a worker at a contractor for Anthropic, Bloomberg reported.

Anthropic works with a small number of third-party vendors who help with model development.

The firm has delayed a general release of Mythos, which it says can spot undiscovered security holes that have existed for decades, in systems tested by both human experts and automated tools.

It shared Mythos first with a few dozen key US tech and financial services players -- such as Nvidia, Amazon and JP Morgan Chase -- to allow them to improve their security infrastructure.

But the company has also been accused of overhyping the powers of a technology which is its stock in trade, and the subject of fierce competition with rival OpenAI.

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A new $400 million stadium that was a symbol of Christchurch's struggle to rebuild after a deadly earthquake struck the New Zealand city will host its first match Friday in front of a sellout rugby crowd.

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake killed 185 people in February 2011 and toppled or damaged buildings, including the city's old Lancaster Park.

The stadium, which hosted international rugby and cricket and was home to rugby team the Canterbury Crusaders, was badly damaged and never reopened.

It was bulldozed in 2019 and turned into sports fields, leaving the Crusaders without a permanent home.

Government funding for a new stadium was finally approved in 2020, and Super Rugby side the Crusaders will run out at the NZ$683 million (US$404 million) Te Kaha stadium on Friday.

The 30,000-capacity state-of-the-art arena is one of the last projects to finish following the devastation 15 years ago.

"It's real beautiful and a great representation of our region," All Blacks and Crusaders back Leicester Fainga'anuku said.

"This place has become the heart of the city and it's something our people deserve.

"From the moment we heard about the new build and what it means to us and our people, it gets you excited.

"Now it's finally here, we're just ready to get into it and put on a good show."

Coach Rob Penney, whose side face the NSW Waratahs to open the stadium, said it had been "a long wait".

Taha Kemara, who will start at fly-half for the Crusaders, added: "It's something we've been looking forward to for a long time and something the city's been waiting for." 

Canterbury found a temporary home after the earthquake at Rugby League Park, where the team won eight Super Rugby titles in nine years.

The ground was a fortress for the Crusaders, partly because of the freezing conditions that could greet unsuspecting away teams.

Under a roof at Te Kaha the conditions will be milder, but Penney hopes the fans keep the atmosphere hostile.

Fainga'anuku, who usually plays at wing or centre, will switch to flanker for the game and Penney said it was something the All Black had wanted to try for some time.

"This stadium felt like the right place to do it," Penney said. 

"He loves big environments, loves pressure moments, and we feel he'll add real value against this opposition."

The Crusaders are also bolstered by the return of All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor, while David Havili is back in the starting side at centre.

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Chinese carmakers have quickly built up their presence in the lucrative European auto market, buoyed by technological advances their competitors are trying to copy, and analysts say their next step is to begin producing locally.

Largely unknown in the continent three years ago, brands including BYD, Chery, Geely and XPeng achieved a nine percent share of European sales in March -- and 14 percent of electric cars -- according to Dataforce. 

That has doubled in a year, and some models even rank among the top sellers in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. 

Their success is shaking up European manufacturers, weakened by a domestic market that has shrunk by a quarter since 2019 and wrong-footed by European Union plans to make 90 percent of all cars sold electric by 2035.

The policy has come at just the right time for Chinese manufacturers, who are far ahead in the electric segment at home, thanks to strong state support. 

"Europe, one of the only major global markets, is a natural outlet for Chinese carmakers," said Jamel Taganza, head of the consulting firm Inovev. 

"The EU's plan for electric cars was practically made for them; it opened up the European market to them in a very short time."

Exports are an even greater necessity for Chinese firms than their European rivals because they face significant overcapacity.

Their plants are running at only 50 percent of their potential, compared with around 60 percent for European companies, Alexandre Marian, an analyst at AlixPartners, pointed out.

"The Chinese manufacturers' strengths are not just labour costs; it's innovation," added Michael Foundoukidis, an automotive analyst at Oddo. 

"In China today, they're offering vehicles that are twice as efficient for half the price" of European models. 

The next step is to produce locally. 

"All manufacturers believe that if you want to gain a foothold in a market, it's easier to produce locally to avoid customs duties and transport issues," said Lionel French Keogh, sales director of Chery France, which aims to build a small electric city car in Europe. 

"If they want to sustainably exceed a 10 percent market share in Europe, they will have no choice but to assemble in Europe," confirmed Foundoukidis.  

- Europe fights back -

EU customs barriers on imported electric cars -- imposed in 2024 -- are encouraging this shift. 

BYD is building a plant in Hungary, while Leapmotor -- a Stellantis partner -- plans to produce two models in a Stellantis factory in Zaragoza, Spain. 

Reports also say Stellantis is considering making Leapmotor models in Spain under the Opel brand. 

And XPeng is assembling knock-down kits in Austria. 

To fight back, European manufacturers have adopted the same strategy the Chinese used in the 2000s: learning from competitors via joint ventures. 

Examples include Stellantis with Leapmotor and Volkswagen with Xpeng, which is launching a first jointly developed electric model for the Chinese market. 

Meanwhile, Renault has teamed up with Geely for internal combustion and hybrid engines. 

This is a "reverse joint venture", said AlixPartners analyst Marian.

Chery's French Keogh added that European manufacturers "are seeking these alliances to learn Chinese know-how in electric vehicles".

"It's a complete reversal of the situation: for a long time, Europeans were condescending toward Chinese manufacturers, seen as mere imitators."

Renault has decided to imitate the Chinese by developing its new models in two years, and has entrusted the development of its electric Twingo to its research and development centre in China. 

The game is not lost for the Europeans, in Foundoukidis's view, "as long as traditional manufacturers step up their competitiveness efforts to catch up with their Chinese rivals over the next two or three years". 

But they may be forced to cut capacity in Europe, or even close plants. 

This is the case in Poissy, in the Paris region, where Stellantis has decided to halt car production, while Volkswagen has decided to make major staff cuts and reduce its global capacity by a million units. 

"We must not underestimate the ability of European manufacturers to react," adds Taganza.

Renault's Twingo will be a test, as will the strategic plan Stellantis is due to announce on May 21. 

In the meantime, BYD has applied to join the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. 

"No decision yet," a spokeswoman for the ACEA said, as it requires "an established industrial presence in Europe". 

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India's blood-soaked six-decade Maoist insurgency may be over, but a lethal legacy remains: hundreds of crude landmines planted by the rebels along forest tracks.

For decades, Maoist fighters seeded vast stretches of central India's forests with pressure-operated improvised explosive devices (IEDs), often buried just beneath dirt roads or hidden along jungle footpaths. 

Rudimentary in design -- gelatin, ball bearings and metal fragments packed into a steel lunch box -- they were nonetheless devastatingly effective, say those who fought the insurgency.

The Maoists controlled nearly a third of the country at the rebellion's peak in the mid-2000s, saying they were fighting for the rights of marginalised indigenous people in forest regions.

But India stepped up its campaign against the last remnants of the rebellion in recent years, and declared last month that the country was free of the Maoist insurgency.

"You ask a soldier what he is afraid of the most -- it is not bullets, but these pressure IEDs, because you never knew when you step on one," said 23-year-old Kishan Hapka of the District Reserve Guards, the police's main strike force against the Maoists. 

"Every step you take in the jungle, you have to be mindful."

Hapka's left leg was torn off in 2024 when he stepped on a mine.

"I would still say I was lucky," he said.  "Three other soldiers were killed in that same operation."

Hapka now walks with a prosthetic leg, restricted to administrative work.

- 'Ears went numb' -

IEDs have killed nearly 500 soldiers in the last 25 years in the former Maoist stronghold of Bastar in Chhattisgarh state, according to police data. They have injured a thousand more.

The pressure mines were designed to target security forces.

But they also killed and maimed the local tribal residents whom the Maoists claimed to have been fighting for, killing more than 150 of them and hurting more than 250 others.

Tama Jogi is one of them.

The 65-year-old was foraging in the forest last summer, when she stepped on one.

Her right leg was shattered.

"My ears went numb and I lost consciousness," she told AFP.  "The next thing I remember is I was in the hospital and they were cleaning my wounds."

Doctors had to amputate her other leg too to save her life, leaving her entirely immobile.

The government only pays for medical care for soldiers who are hurt in the line of duty.

Police arrested her son days later, saying he was a Maoist insurgent -- a charge she denies.

He is still in prison.

"I don't know who to blame anymore," said Jogi, who must now crawl to the bathroom.

 - 'Big problem' -

Officials in Chhattisgarh state say stray landmines are everywhere -- and continue to be a "big problem".

"The IED can be buried beside a pond, beside a road, beside a river – anywhere it could be," said Vijay Sharma, deputy chief minister of the state. 

"Every day, dozens are being recovered."

In the remote forest village of Lankapalli, where a waterfall cascaded even in the dry heat of Bastar, 35-year-old Raju Modiyam found out the hard way.

In January, he had gone looking for fish, taking a popular mountainous path, believing the Maoists would not plant a landmine on a track frequented by the local villagers.

"I stepped on a mine, and as soon as I stepped on it, my leg blew up," he told AFP from his mud-tiled house's courtyard, shaded by bottle gourd creepers over a bamboo frame.

"When I saw my leg, it was completely blown apart, everything was torn open," said Modiyam, walking restlessly on one leg, leaning on a stick. 

"There was blood everywhere."

Modiyam, as he feared while waiting for help to arrive, lost his leg.

The family, dependent on the forest for their livelihood, cannot afford a prosthetic limb, said his wife Jayamma, 21, who is pregnant with their third child.

"A duplicate leg will take money which we don't have," she said.

The police say they recovered nearly 900 IEDs from the forests of Bastar last year, and another 300 in just the first three months of 2026.

"We are not in a position to declare the area is 100 percent IED-free yet," said local police chief Sundarraj P.

The problem, he said, arose from Bastar's "entangled" geography -- unlike other conflict-addled places like Sri Lanka, where the army could sweep a defined territory after the Tamil civil year ended.

"There was never a clear demarcation in terms of the areas they controlled and what we controlled," he said, but adding that "98 percent of the job has been done".

But that is little consolation for Bastar's tribal residents. 

"There is a lot of fear," said Modiyam.  "We don't go into the jungle anymore. What if we step on an IED and it explodes?"  

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