New Actions in the People’s War in India
Featured image: Vehicles set on fire at a railway construction site in Jharkhand. Source: Hindustan Times News.
We have previously reported on actions within the People’s War led by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) (CPI (Maoist)). During the last weeks there has been several reports on new actions and activity.
In the state of Jharkhand, on the 28th of September, a constable of the CoBRA Battalion, a reactionary special forces unit of the old Indian State, was reported to be killed by the blasts from three IDEs. Another CoBRA soldier was also injured by the blasts. According to the report members of the CPI (Maoist) are suspected of planting the IDEs. The incident took place in the hilly forest between the villages of Tumbahaka and Sarjamburu during a search operation in the West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. The operation is called “Operation Magnus”, and has been going on for a year. During this time, four soldiers of the reaction has been killed and 28 have been injured, in what the media calls the “Naxalite-infested jungles” in the West Singhbhum district. According to the West Singhbhum superintendent of police, the search operation has recovered two IDEs, however based on the reports they seem to have had more success in removing IDEs by triggering them on themselves.
On the 25th of September, also in Jharkhand, it was reported that 10 to 12 Maoists attacked a railway construct site, setting fire to at least three heavy vehicles and an SUV. It is reported that there has been similar actions in the region, the last of which happened exactly one month earlier, where six vehicles were set on fire. The attacks are estimated to have destroyed property worth the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of US Dollars.
In the Wayanad district in the state of Kerala, on the 28th of September, six armed people, believed to be militants of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), are reported to have carried out an action against an office of the Kerala Forest Department Corporation. The militants shouted slogans demanding the redistribution of land and put up posters with the same demands.
In an intelligence report the Indian reaction shows their fear for more Maoist actions in the Wayanad district. The report points at potential Maoist attacks on eight police stations in the district. The police stations have been placed on high alert and 240 police officers have been deployed.
