Chattisgarh Maoists Attack: Route Not Cleared By Road Opening Patrol, Intelligence Agencies Notified Threat Fortnight Ago

Ten policemen of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and a driver were killed in an IED blasts carried out by Maoists on Wednesday (26 April) in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.

The DRG personnel were traveling in a rented, unprotected civilian van to an area controlled by the Aranpur police station based on information about the presence of Naxals in the area.

During their return from the area in an unprotected civilian van, the Maoists detonated a significant amount of explosives, destroying the van.

A 50-kg IED was used by the Maoists to attack the convoy, causing the van with no ballistic protection to be flung 20 feet into the air. The debris of the destroyed van also fell 150 metres away from the blast site, according to an NDTV report.

Questions have been raised over various shortcomings that led to one of the deadliest Maoist attack on security forces in months.

According to an Indian Express report, the Maoists in Chhattisgarh had late last month threatened to retaliate against anti-Naxal operations with attacks on security forces.

The Central Reserve Police Force and local police were reportedly warned by intelligence agencies that the Maoists may plan IED strikes or ambushes in Dantewada, Sukma, and Bijapur districts.

The Maoists in a letter issued last month reportedly wrote that security forces were causing trouble for locals and also mentioned Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the state on 25 March, when he attended the 84th anniversary of CRPF in Jagdalpur.

According to sources cited by the Indian Express, security forces have made several unsuccessful attempts to apprehend Hidma, a Maoist leader, over the past four to six months.

In a threat perception report, inputs were shared that Maoists have been inquiring about the movements of security forces and are planning to target their machinery and vehicles. They have even been threatening police informers, according to a source quoted in the IE report.

Senior Maoist leaders of the Central Committee and Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee were reportedly strategising for the Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) 2023 and holding meetings with the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army in Bijapur district, the intelligence agencies had reportedly conveyed.

In addition, the Maoists were reportedly training their cadres for the TCOC and instructed them to conduct reconnaissance of security forces' movements.

Further, questions also arise as to why the road was not sanitised before a DRG convoy was ambushed by Maoists, leading to concerns about the road-opening patrol.

Typically, a road-opening patrol employs a small, agile group to scout for any potential ambushes and eliminate other potential threats before the main convoy arrives.

However, no such patrol reportedly cleared the road that the DRG convoy took in the Maoist-dominated forest area.

This was due to the local celebration of 'Ama Pandum,' a popular festival for children occurring approximately 100 meters away from the ambush location, NDTV reported citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Vehicles frequently speed on the road passing through the forest, but during the 'Ama Pandum' festival, they slowed down due to the presence of children asking for money to buy mangoes, earning the festival its name.

The DRG convoy reduced its speed on Wednesday on this stretch due to festive celebrations.

Locals were likely forced by Maoists to hold a festival near the ambush site so that they can carry out the attack, since the convoy would be travelling at a slower speed.

Further, the road-opening patrols have reportedly shifted from walking or riding two-wheelers to using four-wheelers for sanitising routes in the past few months.

DRG's manual does not recommend using four-wheelers for road-opening patrols and field teams, according to the sources cited in the NDTV report.

The Dantewada district ambush site visuals reveal a massive crater 10 feet deep and 20 feet wide which indicates the usage of huge quantity of explosives by the Maoists.

The Maoists didn't take the weapons from the policemen they attacked, suggesting they fled the area immediately. In previous ambushes, they usually stole weapons.