Police conducting 'small surgical' operations against naxals: Officer

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh police in collaboration with paramilitary forces are carrying out "small surgical" operations against naxals in insurgency-hit Bastar region which is a prelude to a "major" exercise, a senior officer has said.

The operation is based on specific intelligence inputs and police are planning to continue the same during monsoon too.

As many as seven naxals, including five women, were gunned down earlier this month in a number of skirmishes between security forces and ultras in districts of Bastar region.

"As of now we are carrying out small (anti-naxal) operations in different districts while gearing up for major operations (which are) in the offing," IG, Bastar range, SRP Kalluri told PTI.

The officer, however, refused to reveal the nature of the offencive, saying, "We have got success in our recent actions and will continue with it."

Meanwhile, a senior police official, who is part of the anti-naxal operation, said recent strikes against naxals proved successful because they were launched on the basis of specific inputs about the movement of Maoist cadres in the jungles ahead of the monsoon, which has now become active in many parts of the state.

"We will try to corner naxals in rainy season too with the similar small surgical operations in their hideouts and camps," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

State's Special Task Force (STF) and Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) are involved in these actions in coordination with paramilitary forces as well as police of adjoining states of Telangana and Maharashtra.

Security forces have been suggested not to walk into traps and move in a calibrated manner. They have been advised to take care of flooding rivers and rivulets inside dense forests while carrying out operations, the officer added.

"The outlawed CPI (Maoist) are running short of cadres and this monsoon they may launch big recruitment drives in their strongholds to strengthen their head-count but we will not allow them to execute their evil design," he said.

Last year, as many as 734 naxals were arrested and over 400 others surrendered, most of them low-rung members in Chhattisgarh, which reportedly caused dearth of the Maoist cadres, he added.

The state police also planned to recruit local youths from Bastar in state's armed forces in a large scale, keeping in view the major offencive against naxals in near future, according to the officer.