At least 26 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were martyred and six others were injured in a Maoist attack at Burkapal in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh yesterday.
This was the second attack in just over one month in the same district. The last was on March 11 when 12 security personnel were killed.
Despite having sophisticated weapons and training, each attack by Maoists leave the forces helpless. Yesterday’s attack is also said to be the failure of intelligence agencies.
However, reports say that there were general inputs on Monday as well that CRPF men, who would be going towards Chintagufa from Burkapal camp, may come under attack.
The CRPF and intelligence agencies are still trying to understand whether there was any deviation from the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) by the troops.
According to internal security experts, multiple factors led to the deadly incident.
The attack, which took place in a broad daylight, suspected to be carried out Hidima group, succeeded in overpowering the CPRF’s 74th battalion. They even looted sophisticated weapons from the security personnel.
According to K Vijay Kumar, senior security adviser on Left-Wing Extremism in the Home Ministry, Sukma has seen a lot of road construction in the last couple of years and Naxals see this as their ‘biggest enemy’.
“CRPF, which is playing a major role in road construction in Chhattisgarh, is often coming under attack. If these roads are constructed, there will be schools, hospitals, government infrastructure and basic amenities for the locals and Naxals basic philosophy will take a back seat,” Kumar told Times of India.
"They are feeling threatened and that's why they are indulging in targeted attacks on CRPF," he added.
This was is the fourth attack on such a large scale in the last six years. Since April 2010, nearly 200 security personnel have died in six major attacks in Chhattisgarh.
