73 CRPF personnel killed in Naxal attack

Raipur, Apr 6 (PTI) In the worst Maoist attack, at
least 73 CRPF and district force personnel were on Tuesday
killed when a large group of Naxals ambushed them in the thick
Mukrana forests of central Indian state Chhattisgarh's
Dantewada district.

The dead included 72 Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF) men including a deputy and an assitant commandant, and
a head constable of the district police force.
73 bodies of the personnel, who were part of a
80-member CRPF and a district police team, have been recovered
from the site of the attack suspected to have been carried out
by about 1000 Naxals, police spokesman and Inspector General R
K Vij said.
Eight of the injured CRPF men have been evacuated for
treatment from the forest area, he said.
"The CRPF men were in the forests for operational duty
when the Naxals attacked. It is very tragic and sad," CRPF
Director General Vikram Srivastava told PTI.
Expressing shock over the brutal attack, Home Minister
P Chidambaram said something must have gone "drastically
wrong."
"The casualty is very high and I am deeply shocked
at the loss of lives....This shows the savage nature of CPI
(Maoist) and the brutality and the savagery they are capable
of," he said.
CRPF Special Director General Vijay Raman, who is also
the Commander of the Anti-Naxal Task Force, is on way to the
forest area. Additional reinforcement have already been sent
and search operations are on in the area.
Official sources said the attack took place when the
CRPF unit belonging to the 68 Battalion entered the forest for
an operation between six and seven am and were ambushed by the
Maoists.
Helicopters have been pressed into service to evacuate
the injured and bring back the bodies, Chhattisgarh Director
General of Police Viswa Ranjan said.
The attack comes two days after Maoists triggered a
landmine blast in Orissa's Koraput district, killing 11
security personnel of the elite anti-Naxal Special Operations
Group.
On February 15, 24 personnel of Eastern Frontier
Rifles were killed in a Maoist attack on their camp in West
Bengal's West Midnapore district.
The CRPF party was taken aback by the sudden attack by
the Maoists, who surfaced on a hillock firing indiscriminately
and setting off Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).
Dantewada Superintendent of Police Amresh Mishra told
PTI that the Naxals blew up a vehicle carrying the CRPF
personnel.
The incident took place near Chintalnar-Tarmetla
village in the district. The CRPF team had been camping in
interiors of Tarmetla jungles for the last three days as part
of a combing operation, Mishra said. PTI SNG