A fierce encounter between the security forces and the Red extremists that continued for nearly 12 hours and left ten commandos of the Commando Battalion of Resolute Action (CoBRA), a special unit of the CRPF exclusively raised to take on the Maoists menace, dead and about a half a dozen wounded. Three ultras were also killed whose bodies were later recovered from the forest range of Sondaha between the traditionally Red infested Gaya and Aurangabad districts.
The target of the security forces and district police was big. They had a tip-off that the top leaders of Maoists of Bihar and Jharkhand had gathered in hilly and forest area, about 170 km from Patna. As the commandos and district police jawans closed to the place, the Maoists got wind of them and mounted attack. Most of the jawans died in the explosion of improvised explosive device (IED) already planted by the Naxals. The moment forces reached Dumri Nala, the entrance of then jungle range, the ultras exploded about 20 IED landmines.
Police and intelligence sources said that CPI(Ml) polit buro member and commander of Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area Committee Sandipji and zonal commanders Nawal Bhuiyan, Ram Prasad Yadav, Abhay Yadav and Abhijit Rai apart from local cadres were present in the area to finalise their future planning.
The security forces involved in anti-Naxal operations in Bihar were deeply shocked for not getting any help from police of Gaya and Aurangabad for about 10 hours. ADG headquarters Sunil Kumar said any lack of co-ordination would be probed.
The Maoists in Bihar have been keeping a low profile for the past couple of years. The last major incident had occurred in April 2014 in Aurangabad district where a deputy commandant of CRPF and two jawans had been killed in landmine blasts. last month a CoBRA jawan was killed in Aurangabad’s Dev. It also showed the Maoists are now concentrating on Aurangabad district which shares borders with Chatra and Daltongunj in Jharkhand and had traditionally been hotbed to Naxal violence. It is also suspected that Aurangabad SP Baburam was the target of the Maoists. Only a week back the ultras had pasted handwritten posters at Guria village in Imamganj vowing to eliminate the SP.
The encounter that started at 2 pm on Monday continued till 3 am on Tuesday. The forces later recovered three bodies of the Maoists but it was not confirmned how many of them were killed during encounter as the ultras have a habit to take away bodies of their comrades. Most of the jawans died in the explosion of improvised explosive device (IED) already laid by the Naxals.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who expressed deep shock and grief over the killing of ten para military jawans, spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and infomred him about the situation. The CM despatched Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, Director Geenral of Police PK Thakur and Principal Home Secretary Amir Subhani to Gaya to review the situation. The CM also directed for all the medical services to the injured jawans and asked home department to immediately pay `5 lakh to the kin of each dead jawan apart from payment of `20 lakh insurance cover to each of them.
Darkness and incessant rains made the operation more risky as no help could be provided to the security forces trapped in the forest areas. A helicopter which was sent from Gaya failed to make landing there. Two choppers had been requisitioned from Ranchi.
Also, in Jamui district’s Chakai an encounter was reported on Monday between the police and Maosits who had crossed from Jharkhand. Afrter two hours of firing from both sides the Red extremists fled leaving behind heavy catche of arms and ammunition. In Rohtas district police arrested four Naxals and seized ammunitions from them.