No intel failure, over 25-30 Naxals killed: CRPF chief

Director-General of Central Reserve Police Force Kuldiep Singh, who is in Chhattisgarh to monitor the situation following the Naxal attack, on Sunday said that there was absolutely no intelligence or operational failure in the operation.

Singh also said that around 25-30 Naxals were also killed though the exact number is yet to be ascertained.

"There is no point in saying that there was some kind of intelligence or operational failure. Had it been some intelligence failure, forces would have not gone for the operation. And if there was some operational failure, so many Naxals would have not been killed," DG CRPF said.

Speaking on casualties of Naxals in the encounter, the DG said, "Three tractors were used by Naxals to carry injured and dead bodies of Naxals from the site. It is tough to say right now the exact number of Naxals killed in the operation but it should not be less than 25-30," he added.

Singh also said he would meet jawans who suffered injuries in the operation.

Out of the total 22 fatalities, the CRPF has lost eight men out of which seven are CoBRA commandos while one personnel is from the Bastariya battalion.

Maoists are "frustrated" because security camps have been set up in remote areas of Chhattisgarh and this process will be speeded up now to launch more serious operations against them, Singh said.

The Central Reserve Police Force chief, who arrived in Raipur in the wake of the ambush by Naxals in Bijapur on Saturday that also left more than 30 personnel injured, said that "lessons are learnt" from every incident and they will see and analyse "what changes have been brought by the Naxals" to effectively counter them.

Singh said the Maoists are frustrated and troubled because of the induction of five new battalions in the Bastar region of the state recently and the creation of new bases in remote areas like Basaguda, Silger, Jagargunda and Minpa.

"They (Naxals) think that if they mount heavy casualties on us they can deter us and we may not establish new camps.

"But this does not happen...there have been many casualties in the past too... and as per government policy the force keeps moving forward," he said.

The DG asserted that the new camps "will be established and now this process will be made fast so that we can launch more serious operations against the Naxals."

"We keep changing our strategy and it is an evolving process," he said.

A contingent of 1,500 personnel drawn from six security camps launched the cordon and search operation against Naxals along Bijapur-Sukma border around the crack of dawn on Saturday.

The ambush took place around noon that day.

"The Maoists fired from some country-made under-barrel grenade launchers at a party that was returning from Jogagundam after an operation."

"These grenade rounds came all of a sudden and the troops were initially taken aback. However, they soon controlled the situation, broke the ambush and fired grenades in retaliation," Singh told reporters after meeting the injured personnel admitted at a hospital here.

He said about 4-5 personnel were injured during this first assault on the security force party.

"Members of the 'jan militia' present in the area again tried to set up an ambush and surprise these troops who were evacuating the injured...and soon after there was a burst fire from a Light Machine Gun that was mounted some distance away.

"However, the party finally reached their base and found that 21 personnel were missing. It was then that a search was launched," the CRPF DG said.

The DG said his force, the lead combat unit for anti-Naxal operations in the country, will see and analyse "what changes have been brought by the Naxals and how can we counter them so that we again can come heavy on them."

He said the Maoists have looted the weapons of "less than 21 jawans".

Some weapons of the killed personnel were brought back by those who survived the attack, he said.

The CRPF chief met his troops including the field commander of the operation, second-in-command rank officer Sandeep Dwivedi of the 210 CoBRA Battalion and deputy commandant Manish Kumar.

With inputs from PTI