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A replay of 6-year-old trick by naxalites

BERHAMPUR: Naxals repeated their six-year-old trick to make the policemen their easy target in Malkangiri district of Orissa on Wednesday.

At least 17 policemen were reportedly killed when the Maoists targeted their vehicle by a massive landmine blast near MV- 126 village on Wednesday evening. These policemen were returning from MV-41 village. They had been to the village to investigate an attack made by naxals on the house of Subal Bal, a local BJP leader and contractor of the village, on Tuesday night. But they could not anticipate that they were just being dragged into a trap by the naxals.

Maoists had used the same tactics to kill seven CRPF personnel near Gothalpadar in Rayagada district on August 11, 2002 by a major landmine blast. On the night of August 10, 2002 night, they had killed a police informer, Narasingha Sahu, at Gothalapadar. The next day they had targeted the police team that headed towards the village to investigate the murder. The police vehicle carrying the CRPF men was in a hurry to reach the village and it had fallen prey to the landmine blast.

The Maoists made slight changes to their plans in Malkangiri after six years. This time they let the police team reach MV-41 village without any trouble to remove suspicion. But they had planned a massive blast on the return journey. The blast was so severe that it blew up the anti-landmine vehicle and the SOG jawans who were sitting in it like sitting ducks.

The Maoists had made their attack on the house of the BJP leader look massive to attract a major anti-naxal patrol team. Around 100 armed naxals had reached MV-41 village along with some 500 supporters to attack the house of the BJP leader at around 10 pm. They had also blocked the roads leading to the village by felling trees at MV-126 and MV-96 not to let police reach the village. It may be noted that the blast that killed the policemen occurred near MV-126. The naxals had ransacked the BJP leader’s house, beat up his relatives and burnt down a jeep, a tractor and two bikes owned by him before escaping. The BJP leader was saved as he was away and could not return back due to road blockade by naxals.

But this attack was only a bait to attract an anti-naxal patrol team to the village. On Wednesday morning the police team started for the village. The naxals who were waiting for them let them remove the road blocks near MV-126 village as they were just decoys. The vagrants were all prepared for their planned blast during the return journey of the team.

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