Jawans were attacked during lunch

A party of about 36 troops, out of the total 99, came under the first assault after they had ventured out from Burkapal on Monday to sanitise and provide protection to a 5.5-km long road construction work connecting Chitagufa in the said district, officials said. The Maoists squad “very discreetly with the aid of locals” kept tracking the movement of the troops when one party of 36, out of the total three, sat down for lunch, the strong squad of Naxals, possessing sophisticated weapons, took them by surprise and rained heavy gun fire, they said. 

While the slain 25 men and about six others who were injured,  tried to gather their weapons or take aim at the marauding Naxals, the others on the guard duty mounted an effective retaliation and saved about 40 civilians and construction workers who were present in the vicinity of the area during the deadly assault that lasted over an hour.

The government promised to review its strategy on battling Naxalites on Tuesday, as the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh warned that an operation will be launched “with more firmness” and “vigour” against the guerrillas in the coming days. Shaken by the Naxalite attack, the Centre and the state government are making it clear that they will strike back in equal measure.

“We will review the strategy (of dealing with Naxailtes) and if necessary we will revisit it,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh said after paying homage to the CRPF personnel killed in the ambush. Singh said the guerrillas are seeking to destabilise development in the state and using tribals as fodder. The minister stressed, describing the attack as a cold blooded murder. The home minister and the chief minister also visited hospitals where the injured CRPF personnel are being treated. The Home minister earlier visited the headquarters of the 4th battalion of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force in the Mana camp where a wreath-laying ceremony was held. He also directed acting chief of the CRPF and a top security officer to ensure coordinated targeted operations against the Maoists.

In the wake of the Maoist attack, the MP police issued a high alert in the Naxal-affected Balaghat district, a senior official said on Tuesday. Similarly, apprehending influx of Maoists from Chhattisgarh a day after Sukma, the Odisha Police sealed the border with the neighbouring state and sounded a high alert in Malkangiri district. A similar alert was also sounded along the Andhra-Odisha Border.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh stirred a controversy by reiterating that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and the BJP had a “deal and understanding” with the Maoists in the state.  His statement came after Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday dubbed Monday’s massacre of 25 CRPF personnel by Maoists in an ambush in Chhattisgarh as “cold-blooded murder” and said the Centre will review its anti-Maoist strategy. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday visited the houses of two CRPF troopers Krishna Kumar Das and Binay Chandra Barman, killed by Maoists in Chhattisgarh and announced Rs 5 lakh and government jobs to their next of kin. “Three jawans from Bengal were martyred in Sukma. Bengal’s jawans have always worked for the service of the nation,” Banerjee tweeted.