Naxals Guerillas overrun town

by Akshaya Kumar Sahoo and Rabindra Nath Choudhury

( February 17, Bhubaneswar, Sri Lanka Guardian) At least 500 heavily armed Maoist rebels launched a simultaneous attack on three police stations, a police training school, an outpost and the district police armoury in Orissa’s Nayagarh town, nearly 80 km from here, late on Friday night.

According to Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik, at least 13 police personnel and a gram rakhi (village guard) were killed by the rebels. The toll rose to 15 on Saturday evening with a policeman succumbing to his injuries, said Orissa director-general of police Gopal Nanda. While 10 police personnel were killed at the police training school, armoury and Nayagarh police station, a civilian (the village guard) caught in the crossfire died at Dasapalla. Two policemen were shot dead by the Naxalites while they were returning after operations at Mohipur police outpost.

"Security personnel, numbering about 60, tried to repulse the attack for more than two hours, but they were overwhelmed by the numerical strength of the armed militants," Mr Naveen Patnaik said.

The Naxals laid siege to Nayagarh town before attacking the police establishments. They sealed the entry and exit points of the town during the operation, which lasted about one-and-a-half hours. Even the residence of the Nayagarh district superintendent of police in the heart of Nayagarh town was surrounded by the armed radicals, forcing superintendent of police Rajesh Kumar to stay inside his house during the period.

The Naxalites, including women cadres, divided themselves into groups. While six groups raided the police stations and armouries, six other groups took positions at strategic places in the town. They faced resistance at the town police station, district armoury and police training school in the town where there were exchanges of fire.

According to eyewitness accounts, the rebels took control of the entire town, asking the people to switch off their lights and stay indoors before launching their attacks. They set fire to the Nayagarh police station and another small police station at Nuagaon, between Nayagarh and Dasapalla. While the attack on Nayagarh town was on, another group of Maoists attacked the police station in Daspalla town, in the same the district, and stole weapons.

Mr Patnaik announced ex-gratia payments of Rs 4 lakhs to the next of kin of the slain police personnel besides a Rs 10-lakh insurance cover. He also promised jobs to one member from each of the affected families. Rs 2 lakhs will be given to the next of kin of the civilian killed in the attack.

Six grievously injured policemen were undergoing treatment at different hospitals.

Making a statement in the state Assembly on Saturday, the chief minister said that at around 10.45 pm the rebels carried out a simultaneous attack on Nayagarh town police station, district police armoury, police stations at Daspalla and Nuagaon, a police training centre and an outpost in Nayagarh town, and escaped with arms and ammunition.

Special Operations Group (SOG) and CRPF units have been sent to the area and intensive combing operations have been launched under the supervision of senior officers. Nayagarh district borders the Maoist-hit districts of Kandhamal and Gajapati.

The police has sealed the borders and a high alert has been sounded in Nayagarh and adjoining districts. Around 600 police personnel, including 100 SOG and additional CRPF jawans, have been sent to the area to join the combing operation.

In a similar incident in February 2004, hundreds of Maoists had attacked police establishments in the district headquarters town of Koraput and looted arms and ammunition from the district armoury.

Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress and its allies blamed the ruling BJD-BJP coalition for the incident and demanded its resignation. They stalled Assembly proceedings to protest the "failure" of the state government to combat Naxalism.

Before launching the attack, the Naxals announced that they would not harm the public as their target was the police.