The Maoists fired from a distance of around 600 feet. “They placed pressure mines behind tree trunks knowing fully well that the securitymen would rush behind the trees after being fired at indiscriminately,” an official said. Pressure mines of 10-12 pound weight explode either when one sets foot on them or withdraws it. “Naxals normally use improvised explosive devises (IEDs) which can be locally assembled”, sources said adding, that multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) could also be neutralised by using an explosive of 20 kg.
There is no confirmed information on how many MPVs were being used by the CRPF jawans or whether they were wearing bullet proof jackets and helmets during the operation. Sources confirmed that one MPV was blown up.
Officials denied that the attack took place when the CRPF company was returning to its base camp, choosing not say there was any “leadership failure”.
A source said they believe that the drill was observed, though the CRPF was “led into a trap” with information “carefully leaked out”. In this context, they said that Naxals were capable of being mobile in large numbers for several days.
Answering a query, sources said there was no information on the involvement of any ex-Army men in the strike carried out by Maoists. They declined to respond to another question whether a top Naxal commander from Andhra Pradesh was seen in Chattisgarh a few days before the strike.
A Home Ministry team and CRPF Special Director General Vijay Raman, who is also the Commander of the Anti-Naxal Task Force, rushed to the spot. Additional reinforcements have already been sent and search operations are on in the area.
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