Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh:
The post-mortem reports of the 27 CRPF jawans who were killed in the Chhattisgarh attack have revealed the savagery unleashed by the Maoists on Tuesday.
The preliminary reports said the Naxals pumped in 3 to 4 bullets into each of the bodies that were found.
But the brutality didn't stop there. Several jawans had their throats slit open while others had their heads smashed and limbs severed.
(Read: Naxals fired on us from tree tops: CRPF jawan)The CRPF personnel who survived however managed to prevent the Naxals from taking away the weapons of the jawans killed. (
Read: List of CRPF jawans killed)
CRPF men say several Naxals were also killed in the encounter, but their bodies haven't been found as Naxals are known to carry away the bodies of their slain colleagues. (
Watch: NDTV reports from Ground Zero)
Meanwhile, in yet another Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh on Thursday, three informers were killed in Narayanpur district. What's worse, the Naxals left bombs under the informers' bodies, making it impossible for security personnel to remove them from the site.
Presumably, there were pressure bombs under their bodies so that the security persons don't go anywhere near them.
(Read: Maoists kill 3 informers in Chhattisgarh)"They killed the men in full public view. That's a warning to us that we should not side with the government," said a resident.
The security personnel who come in to move the body will have to be circumspect so the bomb doesn't blow up in their face.
Twenty-seven CRPF jawans were killed and seven injured when heavily-armed Maoists opened fire from automatic weapons on the 63-member security contingent, 3 km from the CRPF camp in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday. (
Read: Maoists attack CRPF party in Chhattisgarh)
"Some of them were sitting on a tree. As soon as we took position, they started firing from the tree top and diverted our attention," said a jawan who survived the attack.
"There were around 200 or even more," he added.
Fear, it seems, is all over which is why even those who were witness to the ambush on Tuesday choose to remain silent.
"Please leave us alone. Only we know how we are living here," said a resident.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) top brass toured Chhattisgarh on Wednesday to take stock of what went wrong. Their preliminary assessment said basic precautions were once again ignored.
(Read: Chhattisgarh Naxal attack: What went wrong)It is perhaps time to take a leaf out of the Maoist rulebook that believes strategic retreat is not necessarily a step backward.
Also Watch: Living in fear in Naxal land
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