By IANS,
Raipur : Maoist guerrillas are planning attacks at police bases or civilians in Chhattisgarh, after security forces launched a massive offensive against the leftist insurgents deep in their hideouts in forested areas, say officials.
Since the past four months, the police have taken the battle against Maoists to hinterlands where rebels were never challenged since early 1980s when insurgency erupted in the state’s southern mineral rich Bastar region.
“Since September 2008, Maoists are facing the toughest challenge ever in Chhattisgarh. The police and paramilitary forces have cordoned off their several hideouts in extreme interiors of Bijapur and Dantewada districts which were always inaccessible to the police,” an official of the intelligence wing here told IANS.
“Since they are consistently losing out in their forested bases, the Maoists are planning to carry out deadly attacks on some ill-equipped police outposts or at relief camps housing tribal civilians in Bijapur and Dantewada to stop police forces marching towards their heavily landmine protected hideouts,” the officials said, referring to fresh intelligence inputs.
The police claim to have scored a moral victory in recent months by pushing back the insurgents in their Bastar jungles, where an estimated 10,000 highly militarised rebels operate, backed by another 35,000-40,000 cadres called ‘sangham’ members.