By IANS,
Raipur : Maoists are preparing for fresh strikes, this time in the towns of Chhattisgarh, according to intelligence inputs Friday, three days after 76 security personnel were massacred and eight guerrillas killed in the worst Maoist attack in four decades.
Security forces in the state have been put on high alert in the wake of “fresh intelligence inputs that the rebels can strike in towns to open a new war front”, a well-placed source in police told IANS.
This, he said, was “to divert attention of senior police officers who are in Bastar to anchor a major combing operation in the forest area” where the April 6 attack took place.
Police chiefs in all 18 districts of the state have been asked to take the inputs “seriously” and be prepared for any such possible attacks, the official said.
Police officials also said that security had been further stepped up at important locations in the state capital Raipur, including the secretariat building, ministers bungalows, chief minister’s residence and police headquarters.
Frisking of suspected people at bus stands, railway stations, busy markets, and shopping complexes in major towns is also being done in the wake of the intelligence tip-off.
The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has admitted that it lost eight guerrillas of the total 300 that launched the assault in Dantewada on April 6.
“The three-hour-long battle that began at 6 in the morning April 6 was historic and unprecedented… We too lost eight persons out of about the total 300 People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA),” said a statement of the CPI-Maoist.
The statement in Hindi and issued by the CPI-Maoist’s frontal unit DK Special Zonal Committee from an undisclosed location has signatures of top guerrillas Kosa, Ramanna and spokesperson Gudsa Usendi.
It has listed details of the attack and names of their eight guerrillas who were killed.
On top of the list is Rookmati, of Mukram village in west Bastar, apparently a woman, who was a section commander of the PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army).
According to home ministry sources in Delhi, the rebels had slit throats of two of the 76 securitymen killed, while 35 died of bullet injuries. The rest died due to splinter injuries from bombs and mines.
The Maoist statement claimed that the attackers snatched 75 weapons from paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel including 21 AK-47 rifles, 38 INSAS rifles, seven self-loading rifles (SLR), six light machine guns (LMG), a sten gun and one two-inch mortar.