Maoists kill 25 CRPF men in Chhattisgarh jungle ambush

RAIPUR/NEW DELHI: Twenty-five CRPF jawans were slaughtered in one of the deadliest attacks by Maoist rebels on Monday.
Around 300-400 Leftist insurgents ambushed and outgunned 99 troopers deployed to help with the construction of a road through the Maoist stronghold of Sukma in Chhattisgarh.
This was one of the three biggest attacks on security forces in seven years, and the second in the last one and a half months. In 2013, 27 people, including Congress functionaries V C Shukla, Mahendra Karma and Nand Kumar Patel, were killed in an ambush by Maoists in Darbha valley.
On March 11 this year, 12 CRPF personnel of a road opening party were ambushed in Sukma, barely 20km from Monday’s attack site.
In a statement, CRPF said there were “tell-tale signs from the ground” indicating that a considerable number of Maoists could have been eliminated in the gun-battle. CRPF sources said a “road opening party” of its 74th battalion, deployed to provide security for road construction, had walked about 2km from the Burkapal camp in Sukma when it came under attack from all sides in the dense jungle that has been a base of the red insurgents. They used their familiarity with the terrain to ambush the jawans around 12.30pm.
The CRPF contingent returned fire and managed to keep the attackers at bay until 1pm. The attackers looted arms, ammunition and radio sets before retreating.
The CRPF personnel had split into two groups. One team had ventured 1.5km deep in the jungle when it came under heavy fire. Eleven jawans died on the spot while six others, including an inspector, were seriously injured.
With rebels taking away their radio sets, the survivors couldn’t call for help. The second group, alarmed by the failure of their colleagues to call them at a scheduled time, went looking and walked into the ambush, sources said.
In all, 24 personnel were killed while one died while being taken to hospital. “The troops replied in a befitting manner but taking advantage of their geographical position, Maoists succeeded in inflicting losses to CRPF,” the paramilitary force said in a statement.
The attack sparked suspicion of intelligence failure. PM Modi called the attack “cowardly and deplorable”. “The sacrifice of martyrs will not go in vain,” he tweeted. Home minister Rajnath Singh, who will visit Sukma on Tuesday, said the government has taken the attack as a challenge.
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