CRPF jawans do not fire on innocents, Naxals took advantage: Rajnath Singh

Raipur/New Delhi: In one of the biggest setbacks to the security forces since the NDA government came to power in May, at least 13 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed and 12 others injured, three of them critically, in a Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar district of Sukma on Monday.

The Maoists were using people as human shields. Those killed included assistant commandant Rajesh Kapuria and deputy commandant D.S. Verma of the Central paramilitary force, the police said. In New Delhi, sources said a major CRPF offensive was launched on November 16 where it took on the so-called “First Battalion” of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of the Maoists.

On Monday morning, an encounter erupted with a large contingent of Maoists who had taken “well-entrenched positions” in a village. The sources said the counter-offensive by CRPF jawans was restricted by the fact that the Naxals were using villagers as human shields.

Read: Chhattisgarh Naxal attack: CRPF couldn’t fight back

Top security sources noted the Maoists’ strategy was to “trap” the jawans, and the Sukma attack was possibly part of a well-laid-out plan. “According to information available till now, 13 CRPF personnel, including two officers, were killed as they were ambushed by Maoists at Kasalpara village in Sukma district. Backup forces have been rushed to the spot.