At least 73 personnel of the 62nd battalion of Centre Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the district force have been butchered in a deadly Maoist attack in the Dantewada district of south Chhattisgarh on Tuesday (April 6). While 72 of those killed were CRPF personnel including a deputy and an assitant commandant, one was a head constable of the district police force.
Hundreds of Maoists ambushed a CRPF contingent from a hilltop bunker at dawn between 6 and 7 am. The CRPF were camping in an area of the dense Naxal-infested Mukrana forest, when the attack was launched. There were about 120 personnel in the contingent, which had finished a 3-day scouting operation and were making their way on foot towards their base camp.
Security forces were caught unawares as a large party of Maoists numbering nearly a thousand launched a stealth attack, first triggering a powerful IED blast under a convoy of CRPF jawans and following it up with indiscriminate fire. The encounter has now ended with security officials hitting out.
This is the third major Maoist strike in the last 4 days. The number of dead could increase manifold, with unconfirmed reports saying up to 70 personnel may have lost their lives.
One bullet proof vehicle and a mobile bunker have also been destroyed. After the attack was reported the CRPF rushed additional police reinforcements to Bastar district headquarters, even as helicopters with paramedics and doctors were engaged in a rescue mission to recover and evacuate the casualties from the dense Mukrana forest region.
Police sources say they have confirmed the presence of hundreds of Naxalites still in the area, and fearing another ambush and landmine explosions the reinforcements and rescuers are approaching the site slowly and cautiously. The area is 538 kms south of the Chhattisgarh capital Raipur.
The Home Minister has expressed shock and anguish at the loss of life and expressed sympathies with the families of the jawans killed.
"We had planned an operation together with the Government of Chhattisgarh, we had mobilised both state forces and CRPF - but something has gone very wrong. It seems the CRPF have walked into a camp or a trap set by the Naxalites. The casualties are quite high and I am deeply shocked. I am sorry for those who have lost their lives. But this just shows the savage nature of the CPI(Maoist), the savagery and brutality that they are capable of. Senior officers have gone to the area and we await a report from them," said the Home Minister P Chidambaram.
The CRPF personnel were part of 'Operation Green Hunt' launched about a month ago by the Union Home Ministry to flush out Naxals from the Red belt, which includes parts of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The massive attack comes on the back of the Home Minister's visit to West Bengal and appears to be a Maoist statement of intent, after Chidambaram's announcement of a 'zero tolerance' policy towards Naxals.
The attack began with a landmine blast, and in the chaos that followed the surprised security contingent broke their formations, turning into easy pickings for Maoists hiding in bunkers on the surrounding hill tops. The Naxals seem to have prior intelligence about the CRPF's position and location.
What is worrying is that an anti-tank mine was used to blow up the CRPF party, and the fact that the contingent was caught completely unawares by this audacious attack by hundreds of armed men and women indicates a serious intelligence failure. Mobilising such a large Maoist army would have taken time and meticulous planning on the part of the Naxals.
6 Apr 2010, 1159 hrs IST / Times Now
