Twenty-four families are grieving in the aftermath of the massacre at Silda, but in the family of the cook at the Eastern Rifle Frontier Camp there is also enormous anger. Anger at the Maoist specially Kishenji, who has left so many widows and fatherless in what he has called Operation Peace Hunt.

A 13-year-old lights an incense stick in a small hut. His father was the cook at the Shilda police camp in West Bengal's Midnapore district. He was among the 24 men who were massacred by nearly a hundred Naxals earlier this week.

Vishnu's voice is steady as he asks, "Why is Kishenji hiding his face like a woman. Let him come face to face with us. Has he ever seen the tears of a widowed mother, has he ever seen a fatherless son?"

Vishnu and his two brothers now have to run their home. Their mother stares at her husband's photograph. Beside her sits her daughter, married once, now divorced, another mouth to feed. "How will we survive?" she asks.

The government has promised the family 15 lakhs in compensation, and a job for one member of the family. Both offers will take time to translate into action.

The sorrow and the uncertainty are overshadowed by fury. At the Naxals who ruthlessly destroyed so many families in what their leader, Kishenji, calls Operation Peace Hunt. Anger at the government which has admitted that there were major intelligence lapses.   

On Monday, the 36 jawans at the Shilda camp were resting in their tents when grenades and petrol bombs came hurtling over the camp's low walls. The tents in the camp went up in flames. Of the 24 men who were killed, 7 were burnt alive.  

The government now admits that the location of the camp was problematic. It rested in the midst of a busy market, which meant there was little protection for the camp. Worse, when the Naxals attacked, the jawans could not fire back freely because they were worried about hurting shoppers in the crossfire.