75 Indian troops die in forest ambush
Source: Agencies |
April 7, 2010, Wednesday
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REBELS launched a series of devastating attacks on paramilitary forces patrolling the forests of eastern India yesterday, killing at least 75 troops in the deadliest strike against the government in the 43-year insurgency.
The attack fueled concerns the government is sending poorly trained forces to the front lines to battle the raging insurgency.
Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, the nation's top law enforcement official, said the attacks showed "the brutality and the savagery" of the rebels.
At least 82 troops were in a patrol that had spent three or four days scouring forests in the rebel stronghold of Dantewada, in Chhattisgarh state, said R.K. Vij, the inspector general of state police.
Early yesterday, rebels ambushed some of the troops, killing at least three of them, he said. Another 17 troops who went to recover the bodies were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a land mine. More troops died as the fighting continued to rage throughout the afternoon, Vij said.
The bodies of 75 paramilitary troops were recovered by yesterday afternoon in the remote and heavily forested area, he said.
Seven troops were also wounded, three of them critically. No rebel bodies were found.
The rebels are known as Naxals or Naxalites, after Naxalbari, the village in West Bengal state where their movement was born in 1967.
In February, they killed at least 24 police officers in West Bengal in an attack on their camp.
They have tapped into the rural poor's growing anger at being left out of the country's economic gains and are now present in 20 of the country's 28 states. They have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters.
The troops were part of the government's "Operation Green Hunt" offensive aimed at flushing the militants out of their forest hide-outs.
Several experts said the government offensive was flawed and inadequately trained and poorly equipped soldiers were often sitting ducks for rebels much more familiar with the terrain.
"What is the point of a four-day patrol? You have a fatigued force in the heat of Chhattisgarh at this time of the year," said K.P.S. Gill, a retired senior police officer who has been involved in several operations in insurgency-hit areas.
April temperatures in the area often hit 43 degrees Celsius.
He also called the anti-mine vehicles used by the troops "death traps."
"More men are lost in an anti-mine vehicle than outside it," he said.
In the past few months that the Indian government has cracked down on the rebels it has also said it was ready to discuss all their demands, but only if they gave up violence.
About 2,000 people - including police, militants and civilians - have been killed over the past few years.
The attack fueled concerns the government is sending poorly trained forces to the front lines to battle the raging insurgency.
Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, the nation's top law enforcement official, said the attacks showed "the brutality and the savagery" of the rebels.
At least 82 troops were in a patrol that had spent three or four days scouring forests in the rebel stronghold of Dantewada, in Chhattisgarh state, said R.K. Vij, the inspector general of state police.
Early yesterday, rebels ambushed some of the troops, killing at least three of them, he said. Another 17 troops who went to recover the bodies were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a land mine. More troops died as the fighting continued to rage throughout the afternoon, Vij said.
The bodies of 75 paramilitary troops were recovered by yesterday afternoon in the remote and heavily forested area, he said.
Seven troops were also wounded, three of them critically. No rebel bodies were found.
The rebels are known as Naxals or Naxalites, after Naxalbari, the village in West Bengal state where their movement was born in 1967.
In February, they killed at least 24 police officers in West Bengal in an attack on their camp.
They have tapped into the rural poor's growing anger at being left out of the country's economic gains and are now present in 20 of the country's 28 states. They have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters.
The troops were part of the government's "Operation Green Hunt" offensive aimed at flushing the militants out of their forest hide-outs.
Several experts said the government offensive was flawed and inadequately trained and poorly equipped soldiers were often sitting ducks for rebels much more familiar with the terrain.
"What is the point of a four-day patrol? You have a fatigued force in the heat of Chhattisgarh at this time of the year," said K.P.S. Gill, a retired senior police officer who has been involved in several operations in insurgency-hit areas.
April temperatures in the area often hit 43 degrees Celsius.
He also called the anti-mine vehicles used by the troops "death traps."
"More men are lost in an anti-mine vehicle than outside it," he said.
In the past few months that the Indian government has cracked down on the rebels it has also said it was ready to discuss all their demands, but only if they gave up violence.
About 2,000 people - including police, militants and civilians - have been killed over the past few years.
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