The Hindu : Front Page : Security forces reclaim Kantapahari from Maoists

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Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009
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Front Page

Security forces reclaim Kantapahari from Maoists

Raktima Bose

Two-pronged offensive fetches “big success”

— Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

Security personnel at a relief camp in Kantapahari near Lalgarh on Monday.

KANTAPAHARI (Paschim Medinipur district): Central paramilitary forces and the West Bengal police reclaimed Kantapahari, 7 km from Lalgarh and one of the strongholds of the Maoists, without any resistance on Monday. They had launched a two-pronged offensive from both the Lalgarh and Ramgarh ends.

It was the twelfth day of operation by security forces against the Maoists and the Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee (PSBJC).

Though the offensive met with little resistance from the Maoists, there was heavy exchange of fire at the Sijua forest in another part of the Lalgarh area.

The Maoists triggered four successive landmine blasts and opened fire while the security forces personnel were moving towards Sijua to reclaim the area. The forces retaliated and a heavy gun-battle ensued that continued for three hours, after which the Maoists fled. The operation started early, with jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the State police, along with the bomb detection squad of the Criminal Investigation Department, setting out from the base camps in Ramgarh and Lalgarh.

Four units of the Cobra commandos of the CRPF fanned out in the forests adjacent to the road leading to Kantapahari. Several villages on the way to Kantapahari, where prominent Maoist leaders and PSBJC convener Chhatradhar Mahato were seen roaming freely even two days back, wore a deserted look.

“Entering Kantapahari was a part of the joint operation. It is a big success,” State police’s Deputy Inspector General, Medinipur Range, Praveen Kumar told journalists. “We aim to re-establish the rule of law here that was absent for the last eight months.”

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