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In a four-page note and an audio clipping sent to the media, the Maoists have claimed responsibility for the May 25 attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh that left 24 people dead.

The note, sent by a Maoists spokesperson from Dandakaranya region in Chhattisgarh, says a People's Liberation Guerrilla Army or PLGA detachment carried out the attack on the convoy to target senior Congress leaders Mahendra Karma, Nand Kumar Patel and V C Shukla. While Mr Karma and Mr Patel were killed in the attack, Mr Shukla was critically injured. He is being treated at a hospital in Gurgaon.

The Maoists say they attacked Nand Kumar Patel because he approved Operation Green Hunt when he was the state Home Minister and allowed central forces to be part of anti-Naxal operations. The rebels have also said they wanted to "punish" Mahendra Karma and have enlisted what they call his alleged "misdeeds".

The note blames the Congress, the BJP and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh for their alleged "anti-people policies".  It also criticizes PM Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BJP chief Rajnath Singh for calling the incident an attack on democracy.  The Maoists have however regretted the killing of some "innocent" Congress functionaries.

Through the note, the rebels have also put forward seven key demands.  They want Operation Green Hunt to end and are seeking the withdrawal of paramilitary forces from Dandakaranya. They also want revolutionaries and "innocent" tribals to be released from jail unconditionally.

Around 250 Maoists attacked a convoy of 25 cars carrying Congress leaders who were returning from the party's Parivartan rally in Sukma on Saturday afternoon. They triggered landmine blasts and then rained bullets at the convoy.

The two dozen security personnel traveling with the convoy returned fire but soon ran out of ammunition. The Maoists then surrounded the convoy, took away the mobile phones of the leaders and then shot them in cold blood.