Raipur:
A day after India's worst Naxal attack ever, details are now emerging of how the Maoists managed to trap, ambush and kill 75 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans and a police constable in the forests of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. (
Read & watch: 75 security men killed by Naxals in Chhattisgarh)
NDTV has learnt that the Naxals took advantage of poor planning.
Pics: Bloody Timeline)
Sources say the local police were in the dark about the details of a CRPF operation that a newly-appointed Deputy Inspector GeneraI of Police, who is a top anti-Naxal specialist and a top greyhound commander, decided to launch to get a feel of the area. (
Read and Watch: Something went very wrong, says Chidambaram)
How it happened
Naxal guerrillas were tracking every movement of the CRPF jawans and put in force a meticulous plan. They trapped the security men, who were walking back after a 72-hour deep-penetration operation in the dense jungles in Dantewada: (
Read: Dantewada massacre: The mastermind)
- The Naxals ambushed the jawans and fired from a rocky outcrop.
- The CRPF company seemed to have been trapped in the rocky area and Naxals fired indiscriminately from automatic guns. Multiple blasts were also reported during the ambush.
- The escape route was heavily mined and Naxals triggered landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) when the jawans tried to escape.
The question now being asked is: How could such a massacre happen at all? Was it a failure of intelligence, preparation or just training?
When NDTV asked the DGP of West Bengal Bhupinder Singh about whether the West Bengal police is really equipped to handle an attack of this scale, he said: "The lesson we have to tell our boys over and over again is don't let your guard down, don't think the worst is over." (
Watch: Don't think the worst is over: Bengal DGP)
Following the blood bath, other Naxal-affected states have been put on high alert.
Speaking in Raipur, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesay said the government may have to "revisit" the mandate on use of Air Force in the offensive against Naxalites.
Maintaining that a "war" has been thrust on government, he told a press conference here that "at this moment we must remain calm and hold our nerves" in our campaign to rid India of the grave threat of Maoists and to save democracy.
Chidambaram, who flew in here to pay respects to the 75 CRPF personnel and Chhattisgarh Police head constable who were killed by the Maoists in Dantewada forests yesterday, first ruled out any proposal to use army in the fight against the Naxalites.
"There is no proposal to use army. We think the state police assisted by Central paramilitary forces are sufficient to overcome the Naxalite threat. It is our present assessment of the threat," he said.