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| Patil condemns Chhattisgarh Maoist attack | | |
New Delhi, March 15
Central Home Minister Shivraj Patil Thursday strongly condemned the killing of 49 policemen in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh and said it would only strengthen the government's resolve to deal with the rebellion.
"Such attacks will not succeed in weakening the resolve of the government to deal with the Naxal problem (as the Maoist movement is called in India). The government will continue to extend all possible assistance to the Chhattisgarh government to deal with the menace," he said in a statement.
According to the home ministry, 15 police personnel of the State Armed Police and 34 Special Police Officers (SPOs) had been killed in the attack at the police camp in the Bijapur area of Bastar region.
All the 12 police personnel and SPOs who were injured had been taken to a nearby hospital.
A helicopter has been sent from Delhi to assist the state authorities in their rescue operations in the aftermath of the incident, with senior ministry officials monitoring the situation.
A total of 74 policemen included 24 personnel of Chhattisgarh Armed Forces (CAF) 9th battalion and 50 Special Police Officers (SPOs) were at the Rani Bodali camp in Bijapur area, 510 km south of state capital Raipur, when the rebels attacked.
"Over 300 heavily armed Maoists surrounded the Rani Bodali CAF camp and opened indiscriminate fire, clearing the way for senior guerrillas, including women Maoists, to storm the camp," a senior police officer told IANS on phone.
The rebels lobbed hand grenades, petrol bombs and triggered blasts and then set the one-year-old camp on fire.
The fact that Chhattisgarh, one of the worst of the 13 Maoist affected states, is a fertile breeding ground for the armed rebels is evidenced by both the monetary support and manpower provided by the union government to battle them.
Over 13 battalions of central paramilitary forces have been deployed in the state to supplement the efforts of the police to control left extremist violence.
Four India Reserve Battalions have also been sanctioned to the state while the state government has simultaneously raised two such battalions.
In addition, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and 17 armoured vehicles have been given to Chhattisgarh to neutralise threats posed by improvised explosive devices and landmines used by Maoists against the security forces and civilians.
In January alone, there were 121 Maoist attacks across India with 27 civilians and 10 security personnel killed. And, like the previous year, both Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand bore the brunt of the violence.
Last year the two states alone accounted for a whopping 1,025 of the 1,509 attacks that left 512 civilians and security personnel dead.
A sum of Rs.250 million has been disbursed to Chhattisgarh under the police modernisation scheme primarily for helping the state police set up de-mining units with latest equipment.
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