Total twenty-three security personnel were killed and 33 were injured during a deadliest Naxal attack on Saturday in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. However, a CoBRA commando is still missing.
Later on Sunday when the support teams reached the site, the police found out that the security personnel who were killed and injured tried to take up shelter in the abandoned huts and had run into a lying trap of the naxalites.
The region is a fortress of feared Maoist commandant Madvi Hidma and has name has come out in every significant attack in this and nearby areas since the whose name has sprung up in each significant assault in these parts since the slaughter of Congress leaders in Jhiram Ghati in June 2013.
In attack on Saturday the naxalites activated the attack with deadly blasts and then firing of bullets and shells on the personnel from their well covered positions that inflicted heavy causalties.
One of the survivors of the attack told that they were attacked by almost 400 naxalites who were stretched to over 2km near Tekulguda village. A major gunfight was broke out in the areas of Tekulguda, Jeeragaon and Jonaguda as the personnel fought back to break down the attack.
“Blood-soaked bodies of security personnel were scattered over 1km and we could clearly see signs of their desperate struggle for life. Bullet-riddled and stabbed bodies were found in an open field and huts in Tekulguda. A few of the bodies were without trousers,” told the locals who reached the incident spot before the Police officials.
The locals also said that the naxalites had setup their covered firing positions on all across the hilltop, the field and also inside village. “The jawans were completely surrounded. All the 50-60 houses in Tekulguda were vacant as per the Maoists’ plan. Bullets and country-made mortars were recovered from the site,” said the locals.
“There’s no point in saying that there was some kind of intelligence or operational failure. Had it been so, forces would haven’t gone on an operation and so many Naxals would haven’t been killed,” said the CRPF chief. “Three tractors were used to carry injured and dead Maoists from the site. It is tough to say right now how many of them were killed, but it shouldn’t be less than 25-30,” he added.
Top leaders including President Ramnath Kovind, PM Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, state CM Bhupesh Baghel and the Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu have expressed their deep condolences over the incident.
“My thoughts are with the families of those martyred while fighting Maoists in Chhattisgarh. The sacrifices of the brave martyrs will never be forgotten. May the injured recover at the earliest,” tweeted PM Modi.
Assuring all the assistance needed by the state to overcome the attack Shah tweeted, “I bow to the sacrifices of our brave security personnel. We will continue our fight against these enemies of peace and progress”.
While CM Baghel, commended the confidence of the security personnel and said “We will win the fight against Naxalites”.
