People’s Wars: Almost 30 soldiers killed in the Philippines and new actions in India
Featured image: logo of New People’s Army (NPA) of Sultan Kudarat. Source: Philippine Revolution Web Central (PRWC).
In this last week, new developments have been known in the people’s wars led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the Communist Party of India (Maoist) (CPI (Maoist)). We have previously written about the People’s War in the Philippines and the People’s War in India.
Philippines
In the Philippines, the most remarkable new is announcement of 22 fatal casualties to the AFP (Armed Forces of Philippines) done by the NPA since 15th of June. This happened in the Sultan Kudarat area. These casualties have occurred within the framework of the tactical offensives carried out by the NPA in the area, to counteract the operations of the 6th Infantry Division. The 22 soldiers eliminated were part of the 37th Infantry Battalion. In addition, another 18 soldiers were injured between June and July.
These casualties occurred in several ambushes and operations launched by the NPA, and the defeats of the AFP have been frequent and serious. For this reason, the AFP prevented locals from leaving their homes in nearby communities, to prevent the spreading of this information.
On 1st of September the NPA made another successful ambush against Philippines State’s troops at Sityo Pag-asa, Barangay Mapulot, Tagkawayan, Quezon. Five soldiers were killed and other four were injured. Due to this victory, the NPA confiscated five M16 assault rifles, provided by Yankee imperialism to the Philippines State to repress the Filipino people, and especially to repress the NPA. Following a planned explosion, some soldiers fled the battle, and later the 85th Infantry Battalion, the unit responsible of AFP operations, lied in their statements to hide how defeat was caused on them.
The NPA has further stated that this attack on the Philippine State troops is part of the justice that the Filipino people must obtain due to the atrocities committed by the State’s troops in the area.
India
Maoist guerrillas have carried out new actions in Chhattisgarh at the beginning of the week. This is one of the areas with the greatest influence by the Indian revolutionaries. On Thursday 31st of August, a police officer was arrested and eliminated in Duvalipara, Bijapur district. Also, on Friday 1st of September, a police informant was eliminated in Palaguda, Bijapur. Additionally, Indian police report that another informant in Chhattisgarh was also eliminated in July.
In Bakramundi, Madhya Pradesh, Maoist guerrillas distributed leaflets criticizing the central government, saying that the government is nothing more than “a puppet in the hands of corporations.” Indian police have stated that they will increase their surveillance due to upcoming elections in the area.
In the West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand, a former Border Security Forces (BSF) agent who continued to collaborate with the Indian State as a police informant was killed on Friday 8th of September. Leaflets were recovered near his body.
