Know how India's elite fighting force COBRA fights insurgents

New Delhi: The Maoist insurgency has engulfed large swathes of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Bihar since 2004.This year's deadly attack on Darbha valley, that killed 24 Congress leaders including former state minister Mahendra Karma and the Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel has jolted the security forces out of their complacency.To counter such attacks, the government made a special force in 2008 called COBRA. Cobra force stands for Commando Battalion for Resolute Action. It's a specialized force of the CRPF meant to counter Maoist insurgency. There are 10 COBRA units in the country. They are specially trained in guerilla warfare, camouflage, surviving in the roughest terrain, tracking of explosives. They keep a track of the insurgents and know their whereabouts. They are also trained for map reading, Ops planning and execution, physical endurance, GPS, intelligence. They have the skills to tackle insurgents in jungle areas.All the equipment for the Cobra is manufactured indigenously by the Indian Ordinance Factories controlled by the Ordnance Factories Board, Ministry of Defence, Government of India. They have the best arms and ammunition among the Central Armed Police Unit in the country. The guns used by the jawans are INSAS rifles, AK rifles, X-95, Browning Hi-Power and Glock pistols, Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns and Carl Gustav recoilless rifle. Cobras also have hi-tech electronic surveillance equipment and well-trained sniper teams, armed with Dragunov SVD, Mauser SP66 and Heckler & Koch MSG-90 sniper rifles.The jawans are trained at the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School in Mizoram and CRPF's anti terrorist school in Silchar. Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School in Mizoram and CRPF's anti terrorist school in Silchar.By far, the commandos have killed 61 naxals and apprehended 866 suspects as well as recovered huge amount of arms, ammunition and explosives till 2011. The CoBRA personnel's efforts have also been acknowledged with 200 plus DG commendation discs. The battalion also has 09 Gallantry medals including a Shaurya Chakra in their treasure.CoBRA Commando Ashish Kumar Tiwari was awarded Shaurya Chakra for single handedly pinning down a squad of Maoists which resulted in the killing of top naxal leader.