Separatist Insurgencies in India - News and Discussions.

[mirage2K]

Data show Maoists hitting soft targets

NEW DELHI: As security forces have stepped up anti-Maoists operations in the last couple of years, the Maoists seem to be attacking the soft targets with little or no security cover in red zone. The recent data show that there is has been significant increase in Maoist attacks on economic activities, railways and panchayat bhawans while damage to roads and forest culverts during 2013 has substantially come down due to increased patrolling and surveillance.

Comparison of incidents reported in the first four months of 2012 and 2013 show that the number attacks on economic activities has doubled from only 3 in 2012 to 6 till April end. Maximum of three strikes were recorded in Madhya Pradesh where rural road work under Gramin Sadak Nirman Yojna were targeted.

It was equally worse in the case of Maoists attack on railway where it has also double from only 3 in the first four months of 2012 to 6 in the corresponding period this year. While three such attacks were reported from Chhattisgarh, there were two attacks on the railways in Bihar and one in Jharkhand.

Attack on another soft target — panchayat bhawans — has quadrupled. In the past four months there were four such attacks — two in Maharashtra and one each in Jharkhand and Bihar. In the whole of last year there were 5 such incidents.

While there was no report of Maoists attack on any power projects across the affected districts, this year they have already struck one such project in Bihar.

However, there is little relief for both the Centre and states as Maoists seem to have spared the school buildings so far this year. Similarly, the number of attacks on telephone exchange and towers has come down.

Meanwhile, to push the road construction activities, the Centre would hold a meeting with the Maoist-hit states on Wednesday. Highways ministry officials said that so far government has awarded over 5,100 km out of the targeted 5,469 km under the first phase of road development programme in these states. Only in Chhattisgarh around 290 km road work is still to be awarded.

Sources said that the ministry would seek states' support in adequate deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and close to take up road works in at least seven worst affected districts in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Jharkhand. It wants monitoring and coordination at both chief secretary level and by divisional commissioner for undertaking construction work.

Data show Maoists hitting soft targets - The Times of India

 

[Windjammer]

As police loosen grip, Maoists gaining ground in Bihar, says Centre - Indian Express

Twenty-one civilians have died in Maoist attacks in Bihar until May 31 this year, more than double the number (10) killed over the same period in 2012, according to the Union home ministry.

More security personnel have died in Naxal attacks in the first five months of 2013 than in the corresponding months of 2012. Only 99 Naxals were arrested and two surrendered until May 31 this year; by contrast, 204 Naxals were arrested and 34 surrendered in the first five months of 2012.

Home ministry officials said Bihar Police has all but stopped operations against the Maoists, frittering away gains made over the last five years. Anti-Maoist special forces are not visible, and the administration has failed to clamp down on Maoist fronts like the Revolutionary Democratic Front, which was allowed to hold a rally in Muzaffarpur despite the Centre's objections.

In February, Union home secretary R K Singh warned of a Naxal "build-up" in Gaya, Jamui and Aurangabad, which accounted for over 60 per cent of Maoist violence in 2012.

 

[kaykay]

294 maoists arrested in Jharakhand alone in this year...including 17 top leaders!!
294 Maoists arrested in Jharkhand this year - The Times of India

 

[pakdefender]

PATNA, India Dozens of suspected Maoist rebels fired at a passenger train passing through their stronghold in eastern India yesterday, killing three people and injuring two others, police said.

Related
- Eight villagers killed in Maoist-Indian forces crossfire
- Maoists capture power as the state fails to govern
- Two kidnapped men still missing as exchange deadline with Indian Maoist rebels passes


An estimated 100 attackers surrounded the train near Jamui, a small town 230 kilometres south-east of Patna, the Bihar state capital, police officer SK Bhardwaj said.

One of the two drivers stopped the train on seeing the suspected rebels and fled, Mr Bhardwaj told reporters.

The dead were a security guard and two passengers, he said.


Three killed in Indian Maoist train attack - The National

 

[SPFG]

PATNA, India Dozens of suspected Maoist rebels fired at a passenger train passing through their stronghold in eastern India yesterday, killing three people and injuring two others, police said.

Related
- Eight villagers killed in Maoist-Indian forces crossfire
- Maoists capture power as the state fails to govern
- Two kidnapped men still missing as exchange deadline with Indian Maoist rebels passes


An estimated 100 attackers surrounded the train near Jamui, a small town 230 kilometres south-east of Patna, the Bihar state capital, police officer SK Bhardwaj said.

One of the two drivers stopped the train on seeing the suspected rebels and fled, Mr Bhardwaj told reporters.

The dead were a security guard and two passengers, he said.


Three killed in Indian Maoist train attack - The National

What happened in Quetta yesterday? BOOOOM?

Related
- Eight villagers killed in Maoist-Indian forces crossfire
- Maoists capture power as the state fails to govern
- Two kidnapped men still missing as exchange deadline with Indian Maoist rebels passes

^ ^ ^ One Year Old News!

 

[soumya1989]

2 suspected ultras arrested with arms, amos

fullstory

 

[SPFG]

Motherf$*)er arrested IED Boss

A self-styled Maoist commander believed to have planted an IED in the belly of a dead soldier in January this year was arrested on Tuesday from a Patna hospital.

Inderjeet, a platoon commander of a Maoist group operating in Bihar and Jharkhand, was being treated at a private hospital in Patrakar Nagar, Patna, for injuries sustained in a gunfight with CoBRA commandos of the CRPF near Kumudi Railway station on June 12.

A native of Chakarbandha in Gaya, he is said to be a close associate of central committee member, Arvind Ji.

"He is a big catch. He was injured in an encounter with our commandos sometime back and since then we were on his trail,” director general CRPF Pranay Sahay said.

Police said the hospital authorities had informed the police that a man with bullet injury had been admitted to the hospital. A medical practitioner named Ashok is learnt to have taken R90,000 for his treatment.

Inderjeet, intelligence sources said, was involved in planting an IED in the abdomen of CRPF jawan Babulal Patel, who had been killed in an ambush by the Maoists in Jharkhand's Latehar district in January this year. The IED went off killing three civilians, who had allegedly been forced by the CRPF to lift the body of the soldier.

He was also wanted for many other attacks on security forces, they said. Some of his accomplices had been arrested by the Jharkhand police last month.

Bihar director general of police Abhayanand said the police will soon inform the Jharkhand counterparts about Indrajeet’s arrest, as he is also wanted by them.

Maoist commander arrested from Patna hospital - Hindustan Times

RANCHI: Jharkhand has witnessed a sudden rise in incidents of violence perpetrated by activists of splinter groups. This at a time when there has been an overall decline in the number of Maoist incidents in the state.

The DGP's admission of the looming threat from splinter groups supports the Maoist claim that such groups enjoy the covert support of security forces. This has catapulted them to their present status in the state.

Between January and May this year, about 181 incidents of left-wing extremism have been reported in different police stations as against 197 in the corresponding period of 2012 and 201 in 2011. A close analysis of the prevalent scenario reveals that Maoists were involved in 93 incidents, which make up 52% of the total cases whereas the PLFI and TPC together accounted for 80 cases corresponding to 43% of the total incidents reported.

Among Maoists, around 294 people of different ranks were arrested between January and May this year, as against the arrest of 30 PLFI activists in the first five months. During the same period, about 40 cadres of different splinter groups like Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC), Jharkhand Prastuti Committee (JPC), Sangharsh Jan Mukti Morcha (SJMM) and Pahadi Cheeta were arrested.

Police have also claimed that of the 185 special operations conducted till May 31, thirty were exchange of fire and 31 encounters. "Police could recover 10 bodies of Maoists whereas we have information of about 12 more Maoists being neutralized in exchange of fire but the bodies were taken away by their troop members," said DGP Rajiv Kumar. Asked if the weakening of Maoists and rise of the violence perpetrated by splinter groups had anything to do with covert support of security forces, Kumar said they have been targeting all the groups and are thrashing out specific plans to tighten the noose around their activities.

"Every banned outfit is outlawed and its members are viewed as criminals by the state administration," said chief secretary R S Sharma. He added that small action teams are being formed and greyhound model of Andhra Pradesh is being replicated for effective policing in the LWE affected districts.

Splinters overshadow Maoists - Times Of India

 

[kurup]

Operations against Naxals will continue: CRPF DG

Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Pranay Sahay, today said the operations against Naxals will continue and there will be no let-up on this front.

Sahay, who was speaking to a batch of 716 young recruits who were commissioned into the largest paramilitary force of the country, said, "this fight against Naxals will continue. There will be no let-up (on this front)."

The CRPF Director General urged the young men to contribute in fighting the Maoist menace.

He said more than 40 percent of the CRPF was deployed for these operations in various states and there have been good achievements on this front this year.

"We had 75-80 encounters with the Maoists in various states and we have hit them effectively every time," he said.

The newly inducted constables will now be sent to various theatres that the CRPF is operating in, including counter-Naxal operations, anti-insurgency and tackling militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. They have been trained in various combat and tactical skills for 44 weeks at the CRPF Group Centre located in Greater Noida.

The CRPF has deployed almost 85 battalions in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-hit areas at present.

Operations against Naxals will continue: CRPF DG | Business Standard

 

[senkakudefender]

Maoist leader wanted for 6 years arrested - The Times of India

DALTONGANJ/BOKARO:

A CPI (Maoist) leader, who has 26 cases pending against him and has been searched by the police of four districts since 2007 when he joined the rebel outfit, was arrested by a joint team of police and CRPF.

Umesh Yadav alias Gorka was picked up from Thekhi village on Saturday. He was produced before the media on Sunday by Palamu SP Narendra Singh and Commandant of CRPF Anil Minz.

According to the SP, Umesh is the self-styled zonal committee member of the Koyal Sankh zone and secretary of North Koyal subzone of the Maoists. "He is the third big Maoist leader to have been arrested in the recent past. He had a Rs 7 lakh reward on his head." Umesh is a matriculate and a married man but his affair with a mother of two children finally led to his arrest.

The joint security team recovered one country-made stengun, seven cartridges and one cellphone from Umesh. Following Umesh's interrogation, the security forces recovered 34 small LPG cylinders, 35 pieces of electric detonators, 162 detonators, 3,365 batteries, 255 cartridges, one steel container, one camera flash and five iron springs.

Sources said the entire operation was conceived in an hour and the Palamu DIG Ravi Kant Dhan made a meticulous arrangement to catch Umesh. The arrest was made without even a single shot fired but the enormity of risk to life was all around during the entire operation. Commandant Minz said. "A perfect coordination between police and CRPF posed no problem resulting in such a big catch and heavy recoveries."

Umesh's aide Nawal who had taken the Red leader to his mistress was also arrested. The ammunition was hidden in Abun forest. The security forces had to crawl to reach the dump there. "These deadly devices were enough to devastate any town or suburb," said a CRPF officer.

In a separate incident, security men thwarted a major attack by recovering 44 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted in a series using special kind of wires (codex) on a muddy stretch of 150m between Purnapani and Hurdag in the Jhumra foothill. This was the second big trap laid by Maoists against the security personnel in the past six months.

Maoists planted the explosives targeting security personnel who use the route frequently during patrolling or combing operation.

"The seizure has averted a major mishap," said Bokaro SP Kuldeep Dwivedi. The SP, however, said the detection of IEDs was difficult as the Maoists did not use any containers or metal objects in them. "In the absence of any metal in the IEDs, the deep search metal detector or dog squad fails to detect it during the search. The security personnel recovered the explosives on a tip-off. The recovered IEDs have been diffused."

 

[Gessler]

India is raising an unnamed jungle commando outfit of young tribal men in Chhattisgarh's
Bastar to counter Maoist guerrillas.

Cobra, the most elite commando unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), has so far
trained and absorbed 300 men aged 18 to 30.

The six-month gruelling course at CRPF's Lanjhi forest camp in Bastar is perhaps the world's
longest training module in jungle warfare. The Ranger School at Fort Benning, US, has a similar
but shorter, 61-day course.

The driving philosophy: Locals know their habitat best. In Bastar's dense saal forests where one
of the world's bloodiest guerrilla wars is fought, stealth is precious.

In the war that is fought behind trees, darkness, glowworms and birdcalls, and where sniper
bullets lurk, the local tribals' instincts and familiarity with the terrain are an asset.

"There's no foolproof strategy in this war. You have to keep trying new things," says Zulfiquar
Hasan, inspector general, CRPF, Chhattisgarh.

The commandos are trained to pick up Maoists' tracks, identify fake animal calls used by the
enemy as signal, survive for a week or more without carrying food - eating animals and plants
and extracting water from spongy roots - and using a range of guns.

They use naptha balls to light small, hard-to-detect fires which don't emit smoke of odour.

They can tell a poisonous berry from an edible one.

"Their local expertise and intuitiveness is proving to be a huge asset against the Naxalites," says
Uday Divyanshu, commander of the 204 Cobra battalion.

The tribal commandoes are being used mainly to track down Maoists from the faintest clues and to
evacuate injured soldiers.

At the Cobra headquarters in Karanpur, HT met five members of the new elite jungle force last week.

Their favourite diet in the forests: Instant noodles.

"But when it gets over, we make do with what the forest offers," says a 22-year-old freshly-trained
commando from Bastar's Gond tribe.

His next mission after joining the force: To get married.

Lethal tribal jungle unit joins war on Naxals

 

[Gessler]

Eight Maoists killed in encounter in Jharkhand.

By PTI - LATEHAR 27th June 2013 04:56 PM

Eight Maoist guerrillas were shot dead by the security forces today in an encounter in the
forests of Latehar district of Jharkhand.

Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar said five Maoist cadre were killed in the gun battle when
they opened fire on one group of security personnel while other three died in a gunfight against
another group of security men in Kumandih forest of the district.

He said the bodies were not yet recovered as the encounter was still on.

The anti-Maoist operation was launched on Monday by the personnel of CRPF, Jharkhand Jaguar
and the district police. This was the third encounter in the last three days, the police said.

Source:
Eight Maoists killed in encounter in Jharkhand - The New Indian Express

 

[kurup]

Maoists operations: CRPF grounds anti-landmine vehicles - The Times of India

 

[SRP]

Senior cop among five policemen killed in a Naxal encounter in Dumka, Jharkhand | NDTV.com

 

[SPFG]

Six Maoists killed in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli - The Times of India

GADCHIROLI, Maharashtra: Six Maoists were shot dead in a gunfight with police in the thick Etapally forests in this Maharashtra district on Sunday morning, an official said.

"The gunfight took place around 175 km from here in the jungles on the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border area," an official said.

Security forces were on alert following a tip-off on Maoist movements expected in the vicinity since Friday night. The gunfight was sparked off after a police party engaged in combing operations in the area came under attack from the rebels.

Six Maoists were gunned down by the commandos of C-60 battalion, the official said.

Their bodies have been recovered by the security forces, but their identity has not yet been revealed.

A search of the area also revealed a significant arms cache, which included one carbine, one .303 gun, three home-made rifles, several hand grenades and other items.

Around 170 km from Nagpur, Gadchiroli in eastern Maharashtra's Vidarbha region is one of the worst Maoist-affected districts in the country.

 

[Major Shaitan Singh]

CRPF COBRAs: