A day after 25 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed by Naxals in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, intelligence agencies said that Hidima led group was behind the deadly attack.
According to intelligence inputs, Hidima, who has been active in the region from past few months, was also involved in the last month’s attack that left 12 security personnel dead.
They said that women’s wing of the group was also involved in the yesterday’s attack. It is said that at least 300 Naxals attacked the CPRF’s 74th battalion comprising 99 jawans, who were guarding the staff of a road construction company.
Hidima is the commander of insurgent group People Liberation Guriella Army (PLGA). The group is controlled by its deputy commander Situ and is supervised by secretary Ganpati.
Intelligence agencies have repeatedly failed to trace the exact location of Hidima because he keeps changing his position.
As per the information available, Naxals used villagers as human shield during the gunbattle. Following the attack, they even looted arms and ammunition, including 12 AK-47s.
The looted weapons include 12 AK-47 with 5 Underbarrel Grenade Launchers (UGBL) fitted, 4 AKM (a 7.62mm assault rifle), 2 Insas (a family of infantry arms consisting of an assault rifle and a light machine gun), 5 wireless set with spare batteries, 2 binoculars, 22 bullet proof jackets and 1 Deep Search Metal Detector(DSMD).
The looted magazines include: 59 of AK-47, 16 of AKM, 16 of Insas LMG and 15 of Insas Rifle.
They said that Naxals may once again use the looted arms to target the jawans in the region. During yesterday’s attack, they had used the arms that were looted last month.
Meanwhile, an alert has been sounded in other parts of the state including Dantewada and also in neighbouring Jharkhand.
Sources said that an operation is underway in the Bura Pahar area along the Chhattisgarh border and the entire area has been sealed.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sought a report from the CRPF on what went wrong in Sukma.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who today visited the state to take stock of the situation, called the attack ‘a cold-blooded murder’ and said the government will review its anti-Naxal strategy.
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