In the wake of the deadly Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh s Bastar region that claimed the lives of 22 security personnel, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday said the morale of jawans is high and the operation against Naxals would continue. Talking to reporters this evening at Raipur airport after returning from Assam, Baghel said the work of setting up security forces camps will be expedited in Maoists stronghold areas. Baghel had been campaigning in Assam for the ongoing Assembly election. Morale of our security forces is high and they are giving a strong fight to Naxals in their den. In the Saturday s encounter, Naxals have suffered a huge loss, he said.
Chhattisgarh Naxal Attack: Some 10-12 Maoists are also believed to have been killed. (Representational)
Raipur:
Bodies of 17 security personnel were recovered from the jungles of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh, raising the number of deaths to 22 in the worst ever attack by Maoists in four years that resulted from an ambush by some 400 insurgents who surrounded the jawans from three sides in an area devoid of vegetation and rained on them machinegun fire as well as IEDs for several hours.
CRPF Director General Kuldeep Singh, who was directed by Home Minister Amit Shah to visit the state, acknowledged that his personnel were surprised and ambushed during the attack Saturday that lasted several hours. Other officials in the know of the developments said the forces may have been waylaid by the Naxals.
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Bijapur: CRPF personnel carry the coffin of a paramilitary soldier who lost his life in an encounter with Maoists, in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, Sunday, April 04, 2021.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the operation against Naxals in Chhattisgarh, in which 22 security personnel were killed, was incompetently executed and poorly designed . Our jawans are not cannon fodder to be martyred at will, Gandhi said on Twitter.
Out of the 22 fatalities in the Saturday Naxal attack in the state, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) lost eight men, including seven CoBRA commandos, while one jawan is from the Bastariya battalion, eight from the DRG and five from the Special Task Force.
Jawans Walked Into Maoists U-Shaped Trap Based On Faulty Intel: Sources Chhattisgarh Maoist Attack: Once one of the teams reached the spot, some 400 Maoists encircled the security personnel from three sides.
Updated: April 05, 2021 11:23 am IST
Bijapur Naxal Attack: Over 30 personnel were injured in the line of duty on Saturday.
Raipur:
The security forces that were ambushed by Maoist guerrillas in Chhattisgarh on Saturday were acting on what is now being viewed as faulty intelligence. They had received inputs about the presence of two of their top leaders Madvi Hidma, the People s Liberation Guerrilla Army s (PLGA) battalion number 1 commander, and Sujatha, an associate in the Jagargunda-Jonaguda-Tarrem belt. It turned out to be a trap, sources now say.
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According to media reports, the security forces combating naxalism in Chhattisgarh have suffered a major reverse with as many as 22 men having been martyred in the forest along the border between Bijapur and Sukma districts.
The official press release states that the martyred personnel include
eight men of the DRG (District Reserve Guard, Chhattisgarh police);
six of the STF (Special Task Force, Chhattisgarh police);
seven of the COBRA (CRPF), and
one of the so-called Bastariya Battalion (CRPF).
At least 31 men are wounded and one is missing. Only sketchy details of the botched operation have appeared in the media. From whatever that is available in the public domain, it is clear that: