India: October 4 Massacre in the Abhujmaad forest
On 5th of October 2024 Al Jazeera reported that at least 31 suspected Maoist rebels may have been killed during a clash with Indian security forces, according to state police. The confrontation should haven taken place on Friday after counterinsurgency forces, acting on intelligence, surrounded approximately 50 supposed rebels in the dense Abhujmaad forest, located on the border between Narayanpur and Dantewada districts in Chhattisgarh, according to General Inspector Pattilingam Sundarraj. The operation is said to started on Thursday, leading to a nine-hour shootout on the following day. Al Jazeera then mentioned that these reports remained unconfirmed since a statement from the Maoist rebels was missing.
The encounter reportedly took place in the Abhujmaad area in a forest between Thulthuli and Nendur villages along the border of Narayanpur-Dantewada districts. A joint team of the state police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) were supposedly involved in the operation.
The same day Indian media outlets reported that the intel forces alerted on the presence of company number 6 and platoon 16 of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) and senior members of the Party’s Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC). As well claims were reported that top Naxal leaders like alleged politburo member and CPI (Maoist) general secretary Basavaraju alias Nambala Kesava Rao, alleged politburo members Mallejula Venugopal alias Sonu alias Boopathy and Devji alias Tirupathi, alleged Central Committee members Kosa alias Satyanarayana Reddy and Ramachandra Reddy alias Gudsa Usendi are in Abujhmad.
Later is was reported that the CPI (Maoist) acknowledged that 35 of their cadres were killed in the encounter – four more than the police’s assessment. In a letter allegedly issued by East Bastar Division of CPI (Maoist) all the deceased cadres were named and it was allegedly said that some other cadres were injured in the encounter. Alleged senior Maoist leader, Niti alias Urmila, member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) and East Bastar in-charge of the CPI (Maoist) according to this statement is said to be among the deceased. She was allegedly the fourth DKSZC member killed in an encounter this year in the state. Police meanwhile claimed that they had recovered one Light Machine Gun, four AK-47s, six self-loading rifles, three INSAS rifles, two .303 rifles, and several other calibre rifles including tribal weapons.
Other media reported that an unnamed alleged member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), the commander of company number six of the PLGA, three divisional committee members, 14 PLGA combatants, and six area committee members were killed.
Later again, two weeks after the encounter, police stated that ‘Maoists’ have now admitted seven more of their cadres lost their lives in the same gunfight, taking the toll to 38. All the 38 Naxalites murdered in the October 4 massacre were identified according to the same police report. Another reportedly deceased cadre was Nandu Mandavi, a commander of the West Bastar division. The slained were supposedly involved in 61 encounters with police, 11 attacks on police camps, triggering 17 IED blasts, nine incidents of arson and three of attacks on polling booths. In these incidents, at least 28 policemen were annihilated, while 15 others sustained injuries.
RedHerald has not been able to verify any of the reports.
