Two policemen killed in Maoist attack in Chattisgarh's Gariaband; retaliation for Gadchiroli encounter suspected

In a retaliatory attack, Maoists triggered an IED blast in the forest of Gariaband district in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday and killed two policemen. The attack took place less than ten days after the joint operations conducted by the C-60 commando squad of the Maharashtra police and the CRPF that had killed 37 Naxals in Gadchiroli. The first operation in Gadchiroli took place on 22 April. The incident which occurred on Wednesday took place inside the forest of Amamora in Gariaband district. It’s a hilly area with dense forest. The hilly track in Amamora lies between Orh and Amlor in Gariaband district – about 150 km from Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur. [caption id=“attachment_2761644” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] According to sources, a team of district force of the Chhattisgarh police and a troop of 65 battalion of the CRPF went out on operations in two different directions. Sources said that the two policemen killed in the IED blast are Lekhram Sahu and Bhojraj Tandilya. One may recall, in the same Amamora forest area, nine policemen including ASP Rajesh Pawar got killed in a fierce Maoist attack in 2010. The ambush The police force got caught in a sudden ambush laid by the Maoists inside the forest and the ultras started firing at the police force. As the police personnel were about to react, the Maoists triggered the IED blast that killed two cops. Sources said that the policemen had gone on motorbikes on a search operation and got trapped. Due to the sudden blast, the police failed to fire back and the Maoists managed to escape. The motorcycle of the killed policemen got badly damaged and one of the two died on the spot. The other cop was thrown away at a distance and succumbed to his injuries on his way to hospital. “At around 2.25 pm, an encounter broke out with the CG police followed by IED blasts. A troop from 65 battalion of CRPF which was on another axis rushed the encounter site as reinforcement,” CRPF source said. Retaliation This retaliatory attack of the Maoists came on expected lines. Immediately after the Gadchiroli encounter, both internal security experts and police had anticipated retaliation from Maoist cadre, as they are known to avenge the killing of their comrades. Chhattisgarh Police had already issued high alerts across the Maoist-infested districts. Prakash Singh, internal security expert and an authority on Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) had told _Firstpost_ that the Maoists would hit back. “The fight is not over yet. Maoists can hit back in a bigger manner. It’ll be a big mistake if one thinks that Maoists have become weaker after Gadchiroli encounter,” Singh had warned. This view was echoed by DM Awasthi, special director general (Naxal Operations), CG police, who had told Firstpost, “Immediately after the Gadchiroli encounter, we issued alerts keeping possible retaliation in mind.” What experts say According to internal security experts, immediately after the first encounter in Gadchiroli — some 400 km south of Nagpur — on 22 April, it became obvious that the Maoists won’t sit idle. “Maoists were expected to go very aggressive to give a message to security forces and the government that we are alive and kicking,” Maj Gen (retd) Dhruv Katoch, defence and strategic expert, said. Experts are of the opinion that failure in adhering to standard operating procedures (SOPs) killed two policemen. “The tragedy is that despite high alerts and a retaliation being expected, the police force got into the trap during search operation. It again gives rise to doubts on whether standard operating procedures (SOPs) were followed or not. Almost after every such incident, where CRPF jawans and policemen are killed, we find lapses in following SOPs,” renowned counter-terrorism analyst Anil Kamboj said.