Nine states share intel on controlling Maoist-related problems

[Hindustani78]

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...tehar-buried-with-full-state-honours-4480494/

By: Express News Service | Ranchi | Published:January 18, 2017 7:31 pm
A female sniffer dog of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) died after an IED laid down by Maoists went off at the time she detected it. Her handler sustained minor injuries. The incident occurred during a combing operation launched by the CRPF and the district police teams in Burha Pahari area of Jharkhand’s Latehar district on Tuesday afternoon. The slain canine was buried amid full state honours in Latehar.

Latehar Superintendent of Police Dhananjay Singh said that the canine, Aminika, was buried amid full state honours in the office premises of CRPF’s 11th battalion following post-mortem.

A CRPF spokesperson said that the incident occurred when the canine, named Aminika, which has sniffed an IED in the interior areas of Burha Pahari. It appears that the IED got charged due to some movement during sniffing and exploded. Her handler, P K Shyam, sustained minor injuries. She has given her supreme sacrifice and saved several lives in a very difficult terrain for the forces,” he said.

The canine, said the spokesperson, was with the CRPF’s 203rd battalion for the past three years. The 203rd Battalion of the CRPF, which along with 214 Bn and 209 Bn, has been engaged in anti-Maoist operations going on since last week in the Burha Pahari area. Commanding Officer Ajay Singh of 214 Bn and Pankaj Kumar, CO of 11 Bn, and other officers and men laid wreaths before Aminika was buried, said the spokesperson.

The CRPF battalions and the district teams have mounted a massive search and combing operation in Burha Pahari area; which shares borders with Jharkhand’s Garhwa district and Chhattisgarh’s Balrampur district. The security forces launched the massive operation last week following information that the top-most Maoist commander in the region, Arvind Ji, and his squad were holed up in the area, considered a bastion for the Naxals due to dense forests and uneven terrain.

On January 13, at least six security personnel were injured in a land mine blast in Burha Pahari following an IED blast. “The Maoists had heavily mined the area and were trying to inflict heavy damage on the forces advancing towards them. Luckily, the injuries were not serious, although five of them; including two assistant commandants of CRPF and two Sub-Inspectors of the district police; were rushed to Ranchi for better treatment, said a police officer, associated with the operations. The exchange of fire between the forces had occurred at least thrice on January 13.

Following the incident combing operations were intensified and the security forces recovered more than 460 detonators, around 100 IEDs, more than 60 grenades, a dozen crude bombs, materials used in making these explosives, 20 backpacks, black uniform, 200 kg of rations, four wireless sets, utensils, camera, radio, solar plate, compass, naxal literature and medicines. The forces had also found bunkers and bathrooms, which we suspect was being used by the top Maoist commanders.

They have been dismantled, said the officer. He added that the security forces have found bloodstains at several places, indicating injuries to the Maoists. However, no arrests have been made.

Singh said that the operations were continuing. Our forces are still in the area and we are constantly recovering several IEDs, he said.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...explosion-in-Chhattisgarh/article17059533.ece

The Maoists had planted the IED to target security forces, says Bastar IG.

Two women and a 15-year-old girl were killed in an IED (Improvised Explosives Device) blast in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday night.

Four other women also suffered injuries in the explosion allegedly planted by the Maoists near Tumanar village under Narayanpur police station limits of restive Bastar region of the State.

“Two women from Tumnar village under Narayanpur police station limits and one minor girl have been killed. Four women from the same village were injured in a pressure IED blast in Narayanpur district. The Maoists had planted the IED to target security forces deployed to facilitate ongoing road construction on that axis,” said Bastar range Inspector General of Police Shiv Ram Prasad Kalluri in a statement.

“Let us all unite to condemn these serial killings and senseless violence by the Maoists. Let us warn the Maoists and their frontal organisations, NGOs, over ground sympathizers, legal aid groups, Fact Finding teams and so called human rights activists that Bastar shall no longer tolerate murder and massacre on the pretext of fighting for Adivasis. The Maoists and these organisations are killing Adivasis for extorting terror money from Bastar,” Mr.Kalluri claimed.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...actor-in-jharkhands-ramgarh-district-4488232/
By: Express News Service | Ranchi | Updated: January 23, 2017 9:18 pm

A contractor was on Sunday evening killed by suspected Maoists under Gola police station area of Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district. Maoists left pamphlets warning people not to extract levy in their name. According to the police, Thakur Mahato, a resident of Korambe village under Gola development Block, had gone missing from outside his house late Sunday afternoon. His body was later found in the evening in a market near his village. The body bore injuries suspected to be inflicted by a sharp-edged weapon. It also appeared that the Maoists had shot him. The police recovered three or four pamphlets from the spot. These pamphlets contained warning against anybody extracting levy from miners, business or traders in the name of CPI (Maoists).

“We are suspecting that Maoists targeted him apparently because he had not paid heed to their demands,” said a police officer. Following the incident, the family members of the victim and residents of the area blocked the main road for a few hours demanding immediate arrest of the culprits.

Initial investigation revealed that Mahato was into road projects and was known to be fairly successful in his area. Police officials said that Maoists have been rattled by the success of security forces against them and were trying to extend their reign of terror by targeting people, whom they suspect to be police informers or refuse to pay heed to their demands for money.

Written by Samudra Gupta Kashyap | Guwahati | Updated: January 23, 2017 7:22 pm

Tinsukia: Security men carrying out a search operation near the site of a militant attack at NH 153 where 2 Assam Rifles troopers were killed and three others injured, near Jagun in Tinsukia district, Assam on Monday. PTI Photo (PTI1_23_2017_000156B)
http://indianexpress.com/article/in...a-ambush-were-manipuris-assam-police-4488092/


The two militants who were killed in retaliation by security forces near Jagun in Tinsukia district after the Sunday morning ambush are believed to be members of one of the several Manipuri insurgent groups that are part of the NSCN(K)-led UNLFW, a senior Assam Police officer said.

“Though bodies of the two militants who were killed in retaliation by the security forces on Sunday have not yet been identified, it is almost certain that they were members of one of the several Manipuri outfits that comprise CorCom, which in turn is part of UNLFW led by Khaplang and Paresh Barua. Certain items that we have recovered from them give this indication,” Kula Saikia, Special DG of the Assam Police said.

Saikia, who has been camping in Tinsukia since Sunday, also told The Indian Express that this was the first time that any cadre of a Manipuri outfit has been killed. “We are also examining the call lists of the mobile phones which we have recovered from the dead militants. We have found a number of important leads,” Saikia told The Indian Express.

Security forces engaged in raids and searches in the jungles and villages also neutralised three IEDs and one hand grenade which were recovered from areas adjoining the ambush site on NH 315 near Jagun, two kms short of the inter-state boundary with Arunachal Pradesh.

Bodies of two Assam Rifles personnel, who were killed in Sunday’s ambush, meanwhile were sent to their respective families. While one of the slain jawans was from the adjoining Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh, the other was from Manipur.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Defence
24-January, 2017 19:42 IST
Night Casualty Evacuation by Indian Air Force Helicopters from Naxal Affected Region in Chhattisgarh

On the evening of 23 January 2017, a bus met with a major accident near Mardapal in the naxal affected district of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh. Three passengers died on the spot and a large number were injured critically. 19 CRPF jawans too were travelling in the bus. A request was made to the Task Force Commander (TFC) of IAF’s Anti Naxal Task Force (ANTF) to evacuate a CRPF jawan at night from Bijapur helipad.

One Mi-17V5 helicopter of the Task Force at Jagdalpur was immediately tasked to get airborne for this emergent casualty evacuation mission. However, in view of reports of a large number of casualties, the TFC asked another helicopter too to be kept in readiness. The prevalent conditions were very demanding and visibility conditions were poor. Soon the requirement increased to two helicopters. In view of the threat to the helicopters from the naxals, the State Police and CRPF provided a sanitisation security cover at the helipad. Keeping all their external lights off to mask the approach while using Night Vision Goggles, the IAF pilots carried out a landing at the helipad in darkness. These two helicopters evacuated seven critically injured passengers, including two CRPF jawans to Raipur.

This life saving mission was yet another instance where the IAF’s helicopter task force carried out a daring mission at night in naxal infested Bastar region with utmost alacrity demonstrating its commitment towards aid of the Police and civil administration involved in anti naxal operations. Such missions serve as tremendous morale booster for the troops, knowing that the IAF would be ever ready and ever willing to come to their aid. Since its inception as a small task force in 2009, ANTF has carried out about 20,000 sorties flying 15,000 hours, lifting total 1900 tonnes of load and 86,000 troops and passengers. The task force has also recovered more than 1050 casualties.

*************

 

[Hindustani78]

By: PTI | Raipur | Published:January 24, 2017 2:31 pm

As per preliminary information, when the patrolling party reached between Timmapur and Murdanda, the dog, named ‘Pluto’, sniffed the pressure IED which then suddenly exploded killing the canine. (File)

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...led-in-ied-blast-triggered-by-naxals-4489313/


A sniffer dog of Central Reserve Police Force was today killed when a pressure IED (improvised explosive device) laid down by Maoists exploded in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, a CRPF official said. The incident occurred this morning during a search operation being carried out by a team of CRPF’s 229th battalion under Awapalli police station limits.


As per preliminary information, when the patrolling party reached between Timmapur and Murdanda, the dog, named ‘Pluto’, sniffed the pressure IED which then suddenly exploded killing the canine, the CRPF official told PTI.

The dog handler was not injured in the blast. Pluto, a Germen Shepherd breed dog, was recently inducted into the battalion in Bijapur, he said. Meanwhile, the CRPF has launched a search and combing operation in the region, the official added.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...-pressure-bomb-blast-in-chhattisgarh-4496466/
By: PTI | Raipur | Published:January 29, 2017 12:17 am
A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan was killed on Saturday in an explosion of a pressure bomb allegedly planted by Naxals in the insurgency-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, police said. The deceased, Havaldar Parasnath Saroj, was posted with the 219th battalion of CRPF, senior police officials told PTI. The incident took place near Kottacheru village under Bhejji police station limits, they said.

“A road construction work was going on in the area and a CRPF team was patrolling when Saroj accidentally stepped on the pressure bomb and suffered serious injuries,” a police official said. He was rushed to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Search to nab the suspected Naxals has been launched, police said.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/woman-among-two-naxals-gunned-down-in-dantewada-4497350/

Two Naxals, including a woman, were today gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, police said. The gun-battle took place this afternoon in Purangel forest under Kirandul police station limits when a team of District Reserve Group (GRP) was out on a counter-insurgency operation, Inspector General (Bastar Range) S R P Kalluri told PTI by phone.

After a 1000-year-old Lord Ganesh idol atop a thickly forested Dholkal mountain in Dantewada was damaged a few days ago allegedly by Maoists, security forces had stepped up patrolling in the jungles adjacent to the mountain to trace the vandals, the IG said.

When a team of DRG was advancing through forest of Purangel, they came under heavy fire from a group of armed ultras, leading to a gun-battle between both sides, he said.

The gunfight stopped after rebels escaped into the core forests. The DRG personnel later recovered the bodies of two ultras, including a woman, from the spot, around 345 km from the state capital here, the police officer said. Besides, a .303 rifle, a 315 bore country-made revolver and a huge cache of medicines were recovered from the place, Kalluri added.

“The identity of the rebels was being ascertained. Prima facie it appears they belonged to the medical supply team of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) as a large quantity of medicines was seized from the encounter spot,” the IG said. More details will be available after the patrolling party comes back to its camp, Kalluri added.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...-gunned-down-in-Dantewada/article17112673.ece
Two Naxals, including a woman, were on Sunday gunned down in an encounter with the security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district.

A team of the District Reserve Group (GRP) was out on a counter-insurgency operation, Inspector General (Bastar Range) S.R.P. Kalluri said. The gun battle took place in Purangel forest which comes under Kirandul police station limits.

After a 1000-year-old Lord Ganesh on a thickly forested Dholkal mountain in Dantewada was damaged a few days ago, the security forces stepped up patrolling in the jungles adjacent to the mountain to trace the vandals, the IG said.

When the DRG team was advancing through the forest of Purangel, they came under heavy fire from a group of armed ultras, leading to a gun battle between both the sides.

A rifle, a revolver and a huge cache of medicines were recovered from the place, Mr. Kalluri added.

“The identity of the rebels is being ascertained. Prima facie, it appears that they belong to the medical supply team of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) as a large quantity of medicines was seized from the encounter spot,” the IG said.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://zeenews.india.com/odisha/maoist-kill-four-police-in-odisha_1972700.html
Koraput: A landmine blast killed four policemen in southeastern India on Wednesday, a senior officer said, with Maoists suspected of being behind the latest attack in the restive region.


A vehicle carrying 13 police officers hit the landmine as it travelled through Koraput district near the border between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states.

Local police chief S Shyni told AFP that a "security operation is under way" but did not provide further details.

Images showed the charred frame of a vehicle overturned under a tree as locals looked on at the rescue efforts.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took to Twitter to condemn the attack.

"Strongly condemn the cowardly act & condole martyrdom of police personnel in landmines blast. My deep sympathies with bereaved families," Patnaik said.

The latest attack comes after suspected Maoist rebels killed three women, including a 14-year-old girl, in an explosion in central Chhatisgarh state earlier this month.


First Published: Wednesday, February 1, 2017 - 22:31

http://zeenews.india.com/india/seven-policemen-killed-in-landmine-blast-in-odisha_1972713.html

Bhubaneswar: At least seven police personnel were killed and five injured in a landmine blast triggered by suspected Maoists in Odisha's Koraput district on Wednesday, police said.


Police said the incident took place on National Highway 26 at Mungabhumi village under Pottangi police station on the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border, when the personnel were travelling in a van to Cuttack for training.

"Seven personnel of the district police have been killed while five injured in the landmine blast. They were going for training as assistant drivers," Koraput Superintendent of Police Charan Singh Meena told IANS.

The injured persons have been admitted to hospitals.

The blast comes just about two weeks before the three-tier panchayat polls in the state. Maoists have given boycott call in Malkangiri district and other extremist-affected districts.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik described the incident as "an act of cowardice" and expressed his condolence to the deceased families.

"Strongly condemn the cowardly act & condole martyrdom of police personnel in the landmine blast. My deep sympathies with bereaved families," tweeted Patnaik.


First Published: Wednesday, February 1, 2017 - 23:32

 

[MagicMarker]

Many of the Maoist agenda match eerily with the islamist jihadi agenda.

2000 year old Ganesh statue destroyed by maoist in Chhattisgarh's Bstar district.

Before,

After,

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...in-Koraput-landmine-blast/article17129317.ece

Maoists from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh are suspected to have triggered it.
Seven personnel of the Odisha police were killed when their vehicle was blown up, allegedly by Maoists, in a landmine blast on NH 26 near Sunki in Koraput district on Wednesday evening.

Speaking to The Hindu after the search and rescue operation, Deputy Inspector General of Police, South-West Range, S. Shaini, confirmed the death of seven policemen. Five others were seriously injured.

Vehicle ambushed
The vehicle was transporting a few assistant drivers of the police department to Cuttack for training. There were 13 passengers, including the driver.

Between 4.50 and 5 p.m., the vehicle blew up when it was crossing a culvert near Mungarbhumi, around two kilometres from the Sunki ghat road.

The site of the blast is just one-and-a-half kilometres from the Andhra Pradesh border. The blast was so intense that the culvert was blown away and the police vehicle fell off the ghat road.

Maoists from Andhra Pradesh, who are active in this region of Odisha, are suspected to be behind the blast. It is believed that the landmine was not pressure-activated, as many civilian vehicles had passed the stretch a few minutes earlier. It was most likely triggered from a nearby location to target the police personnel.

‘Retaliatory’ attack
The stretch on NH 26 where the blast occurred continues to be a Maoist infested region. A similar landmine blast on August 27, 2013, at a culvert near Ralegada between Pottangi and Sunki killed four Border Security Force personnel. The highway connects Visakhapatnam and Raipur and passes through Koraput.

The latest landmine blast is believed to be a retaliation by Maoists to a joint security operation in the cutoff area of Malkangiri district in October 2016. Thirty Maoists were killed in the operation.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/8-cops-dead-in-odisha-landmine-blast-4503669/

The bodies were carried in coffins to Koraput town where DIG of south-western range, S Shyni and other senior officials paid their last respects.

The death toll in the landmine blast near Sunki ghat in Koraput district increased to 8 on Thursday, after the body of another Odisha State Armed Police (OSAP) official was recovered. On Wednesday, seven personnel of OSAP were killed when the minibus they were travelling in was flung off the road after a landmine, reportedly planted by Maoists under a culvert, exploded near Sunki in Koraput district. Five OSAP jwans have been injured in the incident.

Officials said body of the driver Tulasidhar Majhi, who had gone missing after the blast, was found today. The other jawans who died in the landmine blast are Havildar major Somnath Sisa, Havildar Arun Kumar Nayak, Harekrushna Prusty, Ganesh Prasad Saha, Sanjay Kumar Dash, Subarna Kumar Raj and Pradipta Kumar Rout. The seriously injured personnel are now being treated in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatanam.

The bodies were carried in coffins to Koraput town where DIG of south-western range, S Shyni and other senior officials paid their last respects. The deceased were given a 21-gun salute.

Koraput SP Charan Singh Meena said the blast took place on NH-26 at Mungabhumi village near Sunki, along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border. Thirteen policemen, all of them drivers, were travelling from Koraput to Angul district to take part in a training exercise. Following the explosion, the Tata 709 minibus, which the policemen were travelling in, was flung nearly 60-ft down the valley abutting the mountainous road.

State energy minister Pranab Prakash Das had a lucky escape as he travelled to Bhubaneswar on that road just minutes ago. Officials said the Maoists had targeted a BSF convoy that was patrolling the area ahead of the panchayat polls this month. Around 40 Maoists were reportedly hiding not very far from the blast spot when the incident happened.

Despite there being a BSF camp at Sunki, about 2 km from the blast site, no one from the camp could reach the spot in the first one hour after the explosion. Later, policemen from Pottangi police station, Koraput, and Andhra Pradesh reached the spot with BSF personnel.

The blast has completely paralysed traffic on the NH-26 that connects Andhra Pradesh to Odisha with hundreds of buses and trucks stranded on both sides of the road since afternoon.

The blast comes nearly two weeks before the three-tier panchayat polls in the state. Maoists in Koraput and adjoining Malkangiri district, have asked people to boycott the rural polls. Scared of Maoists, no one in Talagoluru panchayat of Pottangi has filed nomination for the panchayat polls.

Officials said Wednesday’s blast was the Maoists’ retaliation to the October encounter by Andhra’s Greyhound force and Odisha police in the forests of Malkangiri that left 30 rebels dead.

In August 2013, four BSF personnel died and three others were injured when suspected Maoists triggered a landmine blast in the same area. In last 3 months, Maoists in Pottangi area of Koraput have killed a contractor and husband of a Naib Sarpanch.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...red-in-ied-blast-triggered-by-naxals-4508901/
Written by PTI | Raipur | Published:February 5, 2017 2:00 pm

The security personnel were out on the operation since last night in the interiors of Katekalyan, located around 400 kms from Raipur. (Source: Google maps)

A District Reserve Group jawan was today injured when a pressure bomb laid by Naxals went-off in a forest of Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, police said. The incident took place in the wee hours between Nayanar and Gatam villages under Katekalyan police station limits when a team of security men was out on an anti-Naxal operation, SHO Katekalyan police station Vijay Patel told PTI.

While they were cordoning-off a forested patch near Nayanar, a jawan inadvertently stepped over the pressure IED (improvised explosive device) connection, triggering the blast that left him injured, he said. The security personnel were out on the operation since last night in the interiors of Katekalyan, located around 400 kms from Raipur.

“Constable Pratap Singh Markam, belonging to DRG, sustained injuries on his legs in the blast,” the SHO said. Soon after the incident, reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured jawan was evacuated to Katekalyan from where he was shifted to Dantewada for treatment, he said adding that the operation was still underway in the region.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/Maoists-kill-tribal-man/article17198971.ece

Maoists gunned down a tribal claiming he was a police informer at Alligudem village of Chintooru mandal in East Godavari district on Sunday.

The deceased was identified as Parsika Pullaiah, 40, a petty vendor settled in Bhadrachalam in Telangana State. He visited Alligudem on Sunday to attend a family function.

A group of armed Maoists — said to be about four to six members — surrounded him in broad daylight, opened fire and fled. When the villagers tried to prevent the Maoists from killing Pullaiah, they reportedly told the villagers they would not spare any informer. Pullaiah’s body was being shifted to the area hospital in Chintooru, where arrangements were being made to conduct a post-mortem.

East Godavari SP M. Ravi Prakash ordered a detailed inquiry into the killing. Speaking to The Hindu, he said there was no strong reason for the Maoists to kill Pullaiah.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Defence
07-February, 2017 17:03 IST
Night Casualty Evacuation by Indian AIR Force in Chhattisgarh

On the night of 05 February 2017, a head-on collision between a pickup van and a tractor near Ambikapur in the naxal affected Surguja district in Chhattisgarh left five passengers dead and others critically injured. Around midnight, IG Sarguja approached Task Force Commander of IAF’s Anti Naxal Task Force (ANTF) based at Raipur, to airlift the casualties which was approved by HQ, Central Air Command.

In the meantime, the pilots and ground staff of the Task Force had swung into action to get the Raipur civil airfield opened. One Mi-17V5 helicopter was readied, while another helicopter was kept on standby. Flying under the cover of darkness using the Night Vision Goggles (NVG) the pilots landed at Ambikapur. In view of the naxal threat, the state police provided the necessary sanitization and security cover around the landing area. Two critically injured passengers, one a child of about 13 years, and a lady along with a team of local doctor were taken on board and evacuated to Raipur before sunrise on 06 February, where they were promptly put into ambulances for civil hospital.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://zeenews.india.com/india/10-maoists-killed-in-chhattisgarh_1974603.html
Narayanpur: Ten Maoists are believed to have been killed in a heavy exchange of fire when they attacked a police camp in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh.

"There were around 40-50 Maoists. They lobbed bombs and fired mortar shells. The policemen responded by firing, forcing the Maoists to flee," Superintendent of Police Abhishek Meena said.

He said the exchange of fire continued for two hours late on Monday night after which the Maoists fled the spot.

"Police have found blood marks and recovered ammunition."

Meena said 10 Maoists are believed to have been killed whose bodies have been taken by those who fled the scene.

A pubic grievance redressal meeting by the government was to be conducted at Aakbeda area, a Maoist stronghold.

Maoists had warned the villagers that they would be tried in kangaroo courts if they attended the meeting.

The situation in the area is tense and government officials and villagers are fearing to participate in the meeting. However, the meeting will take place under full security cover.


First Published: Tuesday, February 7, 2017 - 22:36

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