Agencies
Khammam, Apr 6:
Some 83 policemen, mostly the CRPF men were killed as a combing party of the Chhattisgarh police was ambushed when it was on its way back after completing its operations near Markam Nala in Chintaguppa police station limits of Dantewada district in the early hours on Tuesday. The police sources, which confirmed the incident, said that the Maoist triggered two land mines targeting the bullet-proof vehicles carrying the jawans. They said that the casualties might go up further.
Some police personnel were reported missing after the incident. About 1000 members, including the Maoist dalam members and their sympathiser - mainly the Sangam activists, took part in the operation. This is considered to be a major blow for security forces engaging in fighting the Maoists in Chhattisgarh after the Ranibodili incident in the neighbouring Bijapur district couple of years ago.
CRPF personnel, who were killed on Tuesday in a major Naxal attack, include a deputy and an assistant commandant and a head constable of the district police force.
The bodies of the personnel, who were part of a 80-member CRPF and a district police team, have been recovered from the site of the attack, police spokesman and Inspector-General RK Vij said.
Eight of the injured CRPF men have been evacuated for treatment from the forest area, he said.
"The CRPF men were in the forests for operational duty when the Naxals attacked. It is very tragic and sad," CRPF Director-General Vikram Srivastava said.
CRPF Special Director-General Vijay Raman, who is also the commander of the Anti-Naxal Task Force, is on the way to the area. Additional reinforcements have already been sent and search operations are on in the area.
Official sources said the attack took place when the CRPF unit belonging to the 62 Battalion entered the forest for an operation between six and seven am and were ambushed by the Maoists.
Helicopters have been pressed into service to evacuate the injured and bring back the bodies, Chhattisgarh Director-General of Police Viswa Ranjan said.
The attack comes two days after Maoists triggered a landmine blast in Orissa's Koraput district, killing 11 security personnel of the elite anti-Naxal Special Operations Group.
On February 15, 24 personnel of Eastern Frontier Rifles were killed in a Maoist attack on their camp in West Bengal's West Midnapore district.
The CRPF party was taken aback by the sudden attack by the Maoists, who surfaced on a hillock firing indiscriminately and setting off Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).
Dantewada Superintendent of Police Amresh Mishra said that the Naxals blew up a vehicle carrying the CRPF personnel.
The incident took place near Chintalnar-Tarmetla village in the district. The CRPF team had been camping in interiors of Tarmetla jungles for the last three days as part of a combing operation, Mr. Mishra said.
The mastermind behind the massacre
There are reports that Naxal commander from Andhra Pradesh Katakam Sudarshan is behind the massacre. Sudarshan, alias Anand alias Mohan alias AN alias Birenderji, is a central committee member of the CPI (Maoist).
He carries a Rs 12-lakh reward on his head and his latest assignment, police say, is to command a company of the People's Guerilla Army (PGA) to tackle and stall the Centre's Operation Greenhunt.
The physical description of the 53-year-old would suggest a teacher more than a man of violence. He is described as a stout man 5 feet two inches tall, of dark complexion. He has thick hair with graying sideburns and wears spectacles.
Sudarshan has been part of the Naxal movement for 30 years and is said to be a very good strategist.
He belongs to the weaver community in Bellampally, Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh and studied at a polytechnic in Warangal. He was a student leader and then joined the Naxal movement. In Andhra Pradesh, Sudarshan is wanted in about 17 cases, including those of murder and looting.
His wife, Sadhana, was a Naxal leader too and was killed in an encounter a few years ago.
Sudarshan is a powerful man in the CPI (Maoist) hierarchy. He heads the central regional bureau which covers the Andhra-Orissa Border, north Telangana zone and Dandakaranya (Chattisgarh). He is also a member of the top command of the Peoples Guerilla Army (PGA) and the military commission.
Analysts say Sudarshan would have strategised the Dantewada attack and given the nod, but would not have been physically present when the ambush happened.
PM expresses shock, grief
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday expressed "shock and grief" over the death of 73 paramilitary personnel in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.
The Prime Minister has expressed shock and grief over the loss of lives in a Naxal attack in Dantewada, a PMO spokesman said.
Singh spoke to Home Minister P Chidambaram and is understood to have sought details about the incident.
In view of the incident, a high level National Security Council meet has begun at the Prime Minister's residence to take stock of the situation and to decide on the future course of action.
The meeting is being attended by Home minister P Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister AK Anotony, National Security Advisor Shiv Shanker Menon, GK Pillai and the chief of India's premier intelligence agency RAW
Something went very wrong: PC
New Delhi: Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said something must have gone "drastically" wrong in Chhattisgarh where a CRPF patrol during Operation Green Hunt came under Naxal attack.
"The casualty is very high and I am deeply shocked at the loss of lives...This shows the savage nature of CPI(Maoist) and their brutality and the savagery they are capable of."
"Senior officials will be reaching their shortly," he said.
Chidambaram also met the Prime Minister after the attack.
"Government of Chhattisgarh and CRPF together had planned this operation. They had mobilised both the state forces and the CRPF but something has gone drastically wrong. They seem to have walked into a trap set by Naxalites," he said.
Chidambaram said he was very "sorry" for those who lost their lives in the attack.
In one of the biggest setbacks to 'Operation Green Hunt', at least 40 CRPF personnel, including a Deputy Commandant, were killed when Naxals ambushed them in the Mukrana forests of the Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh today morning.
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Friday, September 03, 2010
