Dantewada attack a bid to regain hold in Sukma?

The attack on security personnel was a setback for the forces, says CRPF DG

The ambush on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) vehicle, which killed seven personnel could have been an attempt by Maoists to regain its hold in neighbouring Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

According to CRPF Director General K. Durga Prasad, the security forces, including the CRPF, has cleared a considerable area in Sukma of Maoist presence and the Wednesday’s strike in adjoining Dantewada district was a result of that.

“We have reasons to believe that this ambush was a result of our concerted efforts in Sukma district. The Maoists are feeling the heat and they planned this deliberate ambush to make their presence felt,” Mr. Prasad said.

He said the attack on security personnel was a “setback” for the force they were looking at new measures and protocols to avoid such incidents in the future.

The DG, who came back to the force headquarters here after a visit to the ambush spot on Thursday, said the Maoists shot from a “close range” at three jawans after they were thrown out of the vehicle by the impact of the blast and lay almost lifeless on the road.

“There are AK-47 bullet injuries on the bodies of three troops. We are trying to ascertain if they had breathed their last and were then shot or they were alive and subsequently shot dead,” Mr. Prasad said. He said the Maoists closed in on the bodies to look for weapons but the men were carrying none.

Seven CRPF men were killed in the deadly blast carried out by the Maoists that left a massive six-foot deep crater on the road in the worst Maoist violence-affected Dantewada district.

As reported by The Hindu , Mr. Prasad reiterated that Maoists dug a “fox hole tunnel” from near a culvert to plant almost 40-50 kg of explosive beneath the 'pucca' black top road.

“Huge explosives could have been used. The vehicle split into three pieces after the blast and this is not a job of one person but an entire team of Naxal ‘dalam’ armed with weapons like AK-47 that was present in the area,” he said.

Mr. Prasad said a team of the CRPF investigators who reached the spot after the blast found that the explosive was triggered from 94 metres away by joining wires as soon as the unmarked vehicle went over it.

“We have sent the electric wire used to detonate the explosives for forensic tests to understand when was it laid,” he said.

The DG, while ruling out any sabotage or leakage of information from within the force or from other security forces about the movement of these men, asserted it was certain that the Maoists “definitely would have known about our movement.”

“No one was supposed to know this. But some one saw their movement and then passed on the information [to Naxals],” he said.

Mr. Prasad said he would not like to hazard a guess from where the information was leaked.