NAXAL/ MAOISTS- 2009 - Indian Social Institute

incident adding that the house in which the victim -- Siyaram Sharan Yadav -- took shelter when theMaoists stormed his house, was set on fire reducing the house to ashes.On the other hand, villagers saidthe Maoists, equipped with firearms and other conventional weapons, had surrounded the entire villagesince early morning as a result of which they lived in panic till the Maoist operation continued. After killingSiyaram Sharan Yadav, the Maoists retreated towards the hilly tracts. CRPF jawans along with a bigcontingent of district police including officers in-charge of at least four police stations are conducting raidson the suspected hideouts of the Maoists, under the supervision of the officiating SP Sridhar Mandal, saidthe police. (Times of India 8/6/09)Maoists run riot in Orissa (12)Bhubaneswar: Heavily armed Maoists went on the rampage in Orissa’s Koraput district late Sunday night,blowing up police stations and outposts and torching vehicles. The police were outnumbered and the eliteanti-insurgency Special Operations Group failed to respond swiftly. The violence marks a highpoint inMaoist attacks over the past fortnight, largely concentrated in Malkangiri district and parts of Koraputdistrict. These districts are sandwiched between Bastar region in Chhattisgarh and the northern areas ofAndhra Pradesh which are the hotbeds of Maoist violence. With security forces at their heels inChhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, Maoists are believed to have moved into Malkangiri district in Orissaand have been foraying into neighbouring areas over the past month. On Sunday night a large group ofMaoists – eyewitnesses claim there were at least 100 of them, including women – swooped down onBaipariguda and Machhkund where they attacked two police stations. A police outpost at Ramgiri wasalso attacked. As always, the policemen on duty were outnumbered and overpowered. Later, the Maoistseffortlessly faded into the darkness without facing the least resistance. The elite anti-insurgency SpecialOperations Group (SOG) failed to reach the spot in time to take on the attackers. Three platoons of theSOG are stationed at the district headquarters, Koraput. And it takes only one hour to reach Baiparigudafrom Koraput. Two battalions of the IRB are stationed at Kolab town. But neither the SOG nor the IRBresponded to the crisis swiftly. The reason given by the police is that the Maoists had blocked all accessroads and also planted landmines. Logistical problems have again come in the way of the security forcesto engage the Maoists in combat. In the past, it is similar delayed response after the Nayagarh mayhemand the recent attack on Nalco’s bauxite mines at Damanjodi that allowed the Maoists to indulge inmayhem and escape. After the attack at Damanjodi, the Maoists were traced, but were able to flee asvaluable time was lost, said a police official. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told newspersonshere that the DIG and SP of the area were on the spot and SOG teams were carrying out combingoperations to hunt down those who were involved in the latest attacks. The Maoists first struck on Sundaynight at 10.30 pm when they barged into Baipariguda police station, only 22 km from Jeypore town and40 km from Koraput town. Almost simultaneously they attacked the Ramgiri police outpost, Machhkundpolice station and Lamtapur police outpost. The police stations were blown up with powerful explosives.The Ramgiri outpost was totally razed to the ground. The Maoists also set ablaze two motorcycles, onepolice jeep, one SUV, one scooter and a computer at Baipariguda police station, while one jeep wastorched at Ramgiri outpost. They also snatched the wireless system at Machhkund police station whichwas tuned into the police communications wavelength. Sources said the armed Maoists, wearing policeuniform, entered Baipariguda town at 10.30 pm. Women Maoists kept watch and blocked the road linkingBaipariguda with Jeypore and Malkangiri. Others entered the police station and asked the policemen onduty to leave. The cowering policemen fled without further persuasion. The Maoists also tried to demolishanother newly-constructed building meant for the CRPF, but they couldn't. After finishing their ‘operation’,they left the place around midnight, scrawling some demands in Telugu on a wall and claiming that theybelong to the ‘People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army’. Around the same time another group of Maoistscarrying sophisticated weapons attacked the Ramgiri police outpost. They were accompanied bysupporters carrying traditional weapons like axes and choppers, sources said. The Maoists first tied theASI and other constables to a tree. Then they triggered explosions to blow up the building and set anearby office on fire. At midnight, a third group of Maoists targeted the police station at Machhkund andsnatched the wireless set and also attacked the outpost at Lamtapur. No casualties or injuries to anypolicemen or local residents have been reported in the serial Maoist attacks. On Monday morning, DIGSanjeev Panda and Koraput Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar visited the area with CRPF jawansand sniffer dogs. Koraput Collector Bichitranand Dash also rushed to Baipariguda to review the situation.There is panic among the residents of the affected areas. Sources said there were intelligence inputsfrom Special Branch regarding the impending attacks and the police were fully aware of the threat. But