India's Maoists outgun police in the "red zone"
Source: Reuters
By Alistair Scrutton RANI BODLI, India, March 19 (Reuters) - All that remains at an outpost on the frontline of India's war on Maoists are charred belongings, dried blood in the dirt and stray dogs scavenging for food and body parts after rebels killed 55 police. "They left me for dead, That's the only reason I survived" said Mahendra Kumar Uday, 21. Bayoneted twice and shot three times, he grimaced in pain in a stifling and dirty hospital. His lungs, stomach and spleen were damaged. Last week's attack on more than 70 police and tribal militia members at the remote post of Rani Bodli was one of the deadliest in decades and testament to Maoists' military punch as they forge a swathe of liberated territory in the central state of Chhattisgarh. Hundreds of Maoists attacked the post in a pre-dawn raid. Tribal villagers who could have warned of the attack were silent --- either through fear or support for rebels -- as the attackers crept up to the base's walls. The insurgents then bombarded the post with grenades and homemade bombs made from lunchboxes and stormed the post with bayonets and knives. Chhattisgarh and its southern forests are a stronghold of some 4,000-5,000 Maoists, known as Naxals or Naxalites. They are part of an national insurgency that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said is the biggest internal security threat to India since Independence. Since starting their rebellion in the eastern district of Naxalbari 40 years ago, the Maoists, now estimated at up to 20,000 fighters nationwide, have spread to nearly half of India's 29 states. In the last year the rebels have robbed mines of explosives, attacked convoys and targeted village leaders for assassination. But this attack was their most brazen yet. "They are trying to create their national command centre here," said Ajai Sahni of the Institute for Conflict Management, a New Delhi think-tank. "There want to make this their first liberated zone." Locals who have visited Maoist camps deep in the forest -- covering 12,000 square km (4,600 square miles) -- say they enjoy power generators, television and DVD players. Rani Bodli is on the edge of what locals call the "red zone", which begins across a river. The post was built to show police were still in command. But the attack underscored the region's poor infrastructure and ill-equipped police. MINED ROADS It is a five-hour ride from the nearest town along mostly unpaved roads to the base, beside forest some of which that has still not been fully mapped. It can take hours for police, wary of mines, to send reinforcements. Police had cut down trees by roadsides to stop ambushes and at night the area is a no-go zone. The attack came as locals prepared to mark the first anniversary of the Salwa Judum (March for Peace) movement, a self-defense force of villagers meant to challenge the Maoists. Nearly 50,000 tribal people have been removed to refugee camps in an attempt by the government to isolate the Maoists. It was no accident the attack happened only a few kilometres (mils) from the village that founded Salwa Judum. "This latest attack was to show that the police, even 70 of them, can't defend villagers," said Ajay Singh, a Salwa Judum leader. The region is marked by a lack of trust in authorities. There was little evidence of support for Maoists. But there was little signs of support for police, and there is anger at what many people say is years of government neglect. In Jagdalpur, the nearest town, plans to acquire land for an industrial plant have angered villagers. Clashes with police echoed national discontent with land seizures in India and is the kind of conflict that could play into Maoist hands. "In this kind of warfare, winning over the population is the centre of gravity," said Brigadier B.K. Ponwar, a senior counter-intelligence officer, as he surveyed the post under scorching sun. "And we still have a lot of work to do," he added, scrawling his counter-offensive plans in the dirt, only a few yards from the pools of dried blood of his dead colleagues. (Additional reporting by Radha Kumar)
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