February
16, 2008 14 Policemen Killed
in Daring Maoist Strikes in Orissa By Jatindra
Dash and Murali Krishnan
Bhubaneswar/New Delhi
In the most daring strike so far this year, Maoist rebels shot dead
14 policemen in multiple attacks on police stations and a government
armory in Orissa's Nayagarh district Friday night, and escaped with
hundreds of police rifles and boxes of ammunition.
More than 500 armed Maoists, including women cadre, swooped down on
three police stations, a government armory, a police training centre
and some police posts, taking the police completely unawares in a
well-coordinated operation just 85 km from the state capital.
S.K. Upadhyay, inspector general of the region, told IANS: "About 30
percent of the raiding rebels consisted of women, mostly young
girls."
He said the Maoists looted hundreds of police weapons and boxes of
ammunition, mostly Self Loading Rifles and sophisticated weapons,
kept in the armory and police stations.
While the Maoists virtually lay siege to Nayagarh town for more than
three hours, they continued their attack in the other places till
early Saturday. The area is not known for Maoist activity.
One group of rebels attacked the district police headquarter at
Nayagarh as well as a nearby armory and police training centre
around 10.30 p.m. Other groups of Maoists barged into police
stations at nearby Daspalla and Nuagaon towns, attacked policemen
and looted weapons, said Rajesh Kumar, Nayagarh district police
chief.
At least 14 people, including 13 policemen, were killed during the
shootout between policemen and Maoists. The 14th victim was a
civilian caught in the crossfire. Four people were injured. One of
the injured died in hospital later.
Responding to the bold attacks, six battalions of the Central
Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which has been in the vanguard of
anti-Maoist operations, fanned out in various directions across the
district and adjacent areas hours after the attack.
The home ministry said in New Delhi that a helicopter was being
provided to help in search operations and a team of the elite
Greyhound forces of Andhra Pradesh has been sent to the state.
"This is a well-planned attack and obviously a clear attempt to show
us in poor light," admitted a senior Intelligence Bureau (IB)
official in New Delhi.
In Delhi, union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, fresh from his visit to
Chhattisgarh, another Maoist hotspot, condemned the attack and sent
a high-level team led by Special Secretary (Internal Security) M.L.
Kumawat to hold detailed discussions with the state government on
further action.
"I condemn the Naxal (Maoist) attack which took place at Nayagarh in
Orissa yesterday, and condole the death of 14 policemen and a
civilian in the incident. I convey my sympathies to the kin of the
deceased and pray for speedy recovery of the injured," Patil said in
a statement.
Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta was in touch with state Chief
Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathi on the situation.
Interestingly, the attacks come a day after Shivraj Patil's trip to
Chhattisgarh capital Raipur, where he announced that a unified
command would be constituted in the state for better coordination
among security forces to check Maoist rebels.
Proof that the attacks were meticulously planned was seen in the way
the rebels sealed all entry and exit points of the town to prevent
the movement of vehicles during their operation. They even sealed
the entry to the district police chief's residence.
"A combing operation is going on to nab the Maoists. We have
deployed about 600 policemen in the affected areas," said Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik.
This is the most daring attack by the Maoist rebels after a
jailbreak in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district - the epicenter of
the Maoist rebellion - where nearly 300 prisoners along with Maoists
escaped in December last year.
And like in Chhattisgarh, the paucity of policemen to counter the
rebels proved their undoing in Orissa as well, as the police were
hopelessly outnumbered, said police sources.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has often lamented at various
platforms that inadequate, ill-equipped and poorly-motivated
personnel could not take on the leftist extremists who were
increasingly better equipped and organized.
The attack had its immediate repercussions as the Orissa assembly
was adjourned Saturday for two hours after the opposition
vociferously protested the Maoist attack.
Speaker Maheswar Mohanty adjourned the assembly at 10.30 a.m. after
the Congress led opposition created a pandemonium, demanding the
resignation of Chief Minister Patnaik.
Opposition members alleged that the law and order situation in the
state had worsened under Patnaik, who is also the home minister.
Patnaik who visited the area, announced compensation of Rs.1 million
each for the families of the policemen killed and Rs.200,000 for the
family of the civilian who died in the crossfire.
He also announced that the government would bear the medical
expenses of all the injured.
But despite the seriousness of the offensive by Maoists, Patil
denied that leftwing extremism was the single biggest security
challenge to the country.
"I don't think it (Maoist violence) is so. Now, don't ask me to
comment on my colleagues or what the prime minister said. You asked
me for my opinion and I will give you my opinion," Patil told a
television channel Saturday in an interview.
A home department official said the attack is suspected to be the
handiwork of Maoist leader Sabysachi Panda because he hails from
Nayagarh district.
Though the number of violent incidents blamed on the Maoists fell
from 1,509 in 2006 to 1,285 until Oct 31, 2007, the number of
security personnel killed by them rose from 157 last year to 188
until the end of October 2007.
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