Suspected Maoists kill 14 Indian police: officials

[pkd]

Suspected Maoists kill 14 Indian police: officials

Suspected armed Maoist rebels riding motorcycles on Monday killed 14 policemen in a daring gun and bomb attack on a security camp in eastern India, police and officials said.

It was the deadliest Maoist raid on security forces since October, when the left-wing guerrillas gunned down 17 policemen in western India, one of a series of assaults in an increasingly lethal insurgency.

The latest deadly rebel attack came amidst a security offensive in several states to flush out the outlawed insurgents from their strongholds, Indian television reported.

Two Maoist guerrillas were also killed in Monday's raid in West Bengal state's Midnapore district following a gunbattle with security forces, local administrator N.S. Nigam told AFP.

"Nine policemen were shot dead and five others burnt alive in a fire which started following a landmine blast in their security camp," Nigam said by telephone from Midnapore.

Local television footage showed heavily armed policemen hunkering down on a road as the fire blazed in their camp.

West Bengal state police inspector general Surojit Purokayastha said some 20 Maoists on motorcycles had attacked the camp.

"The attack was to protest the crackdown on Maoist rebels in the district," he said, adding 100 policemen and security personnel were in the facility when it was hit.

"The withdrawal of security forces from the district is a long-standing demand of the Maoists," Purokayastha said.

Maoists in the area have so far not accepted responsibility for the attack.

Last October, Maoist-backed activists hijacked an express train in West Bengal to demand the release of a tribal leader arrested in September, but there were no casualties.

Little is known about the Maoist movement's shadowy leadership or its strength. It is said to number between 10,000 and 20,000 followers.

Suspected Maoists kill 17 Indian police: official

 

[Gazzi]

Something which only appears in small colomns in Indian media.........India needs to deal with this pronlem which is clearly being ignored and allowed to fester. There are alot of problems going on in many Indian states at the moment....heaven forbid if this violence increases.....the region will suffer dearly

 

[sab]

Something which only appears in small colomns in Indian media.........India needs to deal with this pronlem which is clearly being ignored and allowed to fester. There are alot of problems going on in many Indian states at the moment....heaven forbid if this violence increases.....the region will suffer dearly

True. Many segments obstacling government from sending Indian Army with the craps like.." they are our own citizens....problems can be solved by discussions etc... " State Police Force and CRPF without proper training in jungle warfare are just becoming a soft victims of the Maoists even when they dont have much sophisticated equipments. Politicians should come out from day dreaming and clean up this mess.

BTW , are you from Army? If so, you can give valuable inputs about dealing with such problems.

 

[Gazzi]

True. Many segments obstacling government from sending Indian Army with the craps like.." they are our own citizens....problems can be solved by discussions etc... " State Police Force and CRPF without proper training in jungle warfare are just becoming a soft victims of the Maoists even when they dont have much sophisticated equipments. Politicians should come out from day dreaming and clean up this mess.

BTW , are you from Army? If so, you can give valuable inputs about dealing with such problems.

Yeh, don't fire a shot and sit down and listen to their demands....simple really, fighting is the only last, last last option, you have ot remember that the road from this poiny onwards is very steep downhill and room for negotiations must be left at all times as fighting alone will never solve the whole problem......example, LTTE, yes militarily they are defeated, but who now is talking ot he Tamil minority and the abuses they suffer, sooner or later they will revive from the masses from within the Tamils whom once never supported the LTTE.

The Maoists may well be under the illusion of freedom from India, as are the Naxals, but no doubt, there is a foreign hand involved. Although these people today carry vintage weapons, tomorrow these could be assualt rifles, if outside donors decide to wreack havoc in India.

Hence the urgency in dealing with the Moaists/Naxals and the like.

Normally this will work by a mere Military presence, this sends a shocking message that the Army has mobilised and mean business. Secondly, trained personnel need to get involved.....believe me if there is a warfare that is ugly then that is urban warfare, even closed villaghes with hundreds of homes can become a nuisance and collateral damage huge.

Clearly if the Moaists are shown that the Indian Government which is growing economically is investing into their States then the peopl themselves will see a change and force a chage in opinion.

I mean - If millions of dollars and be spent to build F ing statuesof mayawati and millions more spent to F ing protect them, then one needs to see where is the sanity in this governance.

Militarily - India will not be able to control the entire region.....it is not Kashmor where they can throw in massive soldiers and cause a deterrence by the presence and ability to respond and cover ground quickly, the territory here is vast, very vast actually and local support for the Maoists great.

Therefore India will need to target only on at a tme and set an example when it does, target one group in one state, this will clearly cause a division and take village by village, a bit like what Pakistan is doing now, it is very slow, but methodical and gurantees more control of a region which can be "mopped" at the Militaries descretion. Sheer numbers of soldiers will deter the Maoists from a confrontation, just remember the Maoists are ill trained. Indian soldiers in their hundreds, just say for arguments sake a 1000. Thats 30 rounds a magazine, meaning 30,000 bullets coming at the other side which is not a small amount. Especially when Indian soldiers can use cannons and high calibre weapons to keep a safe distance between them and the enemy which will bog them down eventually when they realise that they can't hit the Indian soldiers, however, this will ultimately make the enemy desparate and look for options, meaning outside help with weaponry, not going to mention any names, but they will have an audience hence the noose will need to be tight around the region the Army is about to enclose to avoid a prolonged campaign. The idea is to keep it slow and clean, time is not a factor as long as you control the ground and dictate the terms of battle.

 

[no_name]

"In World War II, an average of 25,000 bullets were fired for each soldier killed. By Vietnam, that number had climbed to 200,000. Yet, on average, trained snipers expend only 1.3 bullets per kill. Its no wonder they are called the "most hated men on the battlefield." From sessions at the Marine Corps Sniper School to the legendary battle between German and Soviet marksmen that inspired the film Enemy at the Gates, SNIPERS looks through the scope and takes aim at these specialized soldiers. Each of the four hours in the Sharpshooters Collection focuses on a different aspect of a Snipers training, missions and history."

I would guess a sizeable portion of it was machine gun fire for supression and area denial.

 

[sab]

@ Gazzi

Thanks for your response. only little modification is that Maoists or Naxalites are not fighting for seperation from India, their aim or delusion is to change the social structure and capture power from middle and upper class.

They are not very much in numbers nor they have huge ammunition. But they know their jungles like their palms. That is their biggest weapon. They have their support base among tribals and aborigins but nothing in cities. But facing them in their dens is something beyond the capacity of Police Force or CRPF. But specialised force trained in Jungle warfare with night vision equipments and modern navigation and communication devices can easily tackle them. But political leadership is against sending Army.
It is fact government has done almost nothing for these people in remote areas but if they think discussion and promise of development will bring these youth in right track they are making a big mistake. With time, the leaders of these groups start acting like mafia leader (ideology will simply vanish) and they will try to retain their power and wealth (created from looting and extortion) at any cost. So all development projects will be forcefully opposed by them. Cadres will be recruited by force. Only thing government can do is not allowing them beyond their teritorry and slowly encircle them in their dens with specialised force. Instead of sending police petrol attempts should be made to ambush them on their tracks by snipers or by commandoes dropped from choppers. It is possible if their movements and route carefully monitored. Simply saying if they are to be defeated in their game, their tactics should be followed against them.

 

[Gazzi]

At least 24 troops were killed when armed Maoists attacked a camp of the paramilitary forces in India's West Bengal state, officials said.

Nearly 50 rebels on motorcycles encircled the camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (ERF) at Silda village on Monday and started firing on it.

More fighters joined the assault on foot, firing from automatic weapons.

More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels' 20-year fight for communist rule in many Indian states.

The Indian government recently began a major offensive against the rebels in several states.

Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India's "greatest internal security challenge".

The rebels now have a presence in 223 of India's 600-odd districts.

Landmines

The camp was overrun by the Maoists after the troops put up brief initial resistance, district magistrate of West Midnapore district NS Nigam told the BBC.

"The Maoists then burnt down the camp and planted landmines on the entire length of the road leading to the camp. Reinforcements with night vision and anti-landmine vehicles reached the camp late at night," Mr Nigam said.

At least 24 bodies have been recovered from in and around the camp and some of them are badly charred, he said.

Troops haunting for Maoist rebels
The government has launched a major offensive against the rebels

The seriously injured troops were being taken to the state capital, Calcutta, for treatment. Officials said at least 12 soldiers were still missing.

It took four hours for reinforcements to reached Silda as there were landmines planted on the entire stretch of the road.

Police officials leading the reinforcements that reached Silda late at night said many of the paramilitary troops were shot dead by the rebels as they tried to escape the fire.

West Bengal's police chief Bhupinder Singh said there were nearly 50 ERF troops in the camp when the attack took place.

The Maoists pulled out of Silda after looting a huge amount of weapons from the camp's armoury.

Chief of the rebels' military wing, Koteswara Rao - alias Kishenji - claimed responsibility for the attack.

He said this attack was the beginning of "Operation Peace Hunt", the Maoist answer to the government "Operation Green Hunt" launched against the Maoists recently.

"We are looking for peace but we are forced to fight and kill the poor troops of the government forces. We will mourn the death of those killed but the government is responsible for their death," Kishenji told the BBC by phone from an undisclosed location.

The Maoist leader warned of more such attacks unless Operation Green Hunt was stopped.

Earlier this month Home Minister P Chidambaram held a meeting of four Maoist-affected states - West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa - in Calcutta.

He threatened to intensify Operation Green Hunt if the rebels did not start talks by abjuring violence.

The Maoists said they would agree to talks if four of their senior leaders now in jail were released and Operation Green Hunt was halted.

The government has not responded to that conditional overture.

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BBC News - India Maoist rebels kill 24 troops in West Bengal

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[kallu_be]

Why the government is doing all this stuff giving fancy names like "Operation Greenhunt" and bullshit. It should take lessons from Andhra Pradesh anti naxal wing police force called grey hounds in dealing this issue. Andhra pradesh once hot bed of maoist violence didn't have any incidents from last 3 years, thanks to greyhounds who killed maoists like dogs in their own turf. Their methods are brutal and didn't go well with human right activists, but the end result is good.