RAIPUR: A recent encounter between the CoBRA — an elite force of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the armed cadres of outlawed CPI (Maoist) led the former to uncover some ground realities from the conflict zone of Bastar, south Chhattisgarh. Use of automatic weapons by Maoists, the strength of their military cadres, manufacturing machine for gun-barrels and ammunition, mega training camps, rebels using the CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) uniforms among others might just be the usual run-of-the-mill affair for the left-wing extremists at their strongholds in the state.
After the gun-battle that killed two CoBRA men and injured six others near Irapalli in the strife-torn Bijapur district, about 400 km south of Raipur on Monday, the forces revealed what they had witnessed.
The CoBRA men, drawn from two separate battalions in Bijapur, had on intelligence inputs first time launched a major operation into a territory cited as the epicentre of the banned Maoist organisation.
“The area touched upon by CoBRA troops is considered as the bastion of CPI (Maoist). This is the first time the operation of this magnitude was launched in such stronghold area,” a CRPF officer of the rank of the deputy inspector general (DIG) said.
The troopers also detected a major training camp besides a manufacturing unit of gun barrels, mortar bombs and ammunition.
“We busted a big Naxal training camp and a gun factory machine used for making bullets, weapons/bombs. The place was covered by hills from the three sides. During the gunfight that continued for over an hour, the Maoists used automatic weapons and high explosive bombs fired from Under Barrel Grenade Launcher,” the CRPF officer added. Security forces demolished the training camp and the gun factory machines at the site before leaving the area.