'Naxals from AP, Odisha involved in Chhattisgarh attack'

Assessment by security forces suggests police did not follow standard procedure

Days after Naxalites killed Congress party leaders Mahendra Karma and Nand Kumar Patel, along with 26 others, in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, security agencies have concluded the massacre was carried out by rebels from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, and not by those fighting paramilitary personnel in the state.

Senior paramilitary officers have found that the Naxals had reached Sukma in small batches from different states to carry out the attack. They have probably gone back to their bases to avoid being detected by paramilitary forces and the police, who are now combing the area.

"The fact that they were unable to identify Mahendra Karma and Nandkumar Patel and were asking people to help them identify these Congress leaders indicates that the Naxals were not from Chhattisgarh, but had come to Sukma only to carry out the attack," said a senior officer involved in anti-Maoist operations in the state.

"The unmanned aerial vehicles had also not been able to spot the movement of hundreds of Naxals, which suggests they had reached Sukma in small batches from different routes to avoid being detected," said the officer, who did not want to be named.

Members of the anti-Naxal operations indicated the attack was carried out in the afternoon because Maoists wanted to return to their bases during night under cover of darkness.

Blaming the state police for not following the standard operating procedure and not informing paramilitary personnel of the Congress rally in advance, senior officials say the security personnel of the state police were only armed with pistols and small arms against assault rifles of the rebels.

"The state police made a blunder by not following the standard operating procedure. This is a very big attack carried out to boost the morale of Naxals, who have faced heavy losses in the jungles of Saranda in Jharkhand and Abujmaad in Chhattisgarh. Instead of taking on security personnel, Maoists decided to select a soft target," the assessment done by security forces suggested.

Members of the anti-Naxal operations also believe the site of the ambush was selected by the rebels so that paramilitary personnel and state police units would be unable to reach for rescue in time. Senior officers said Congress leaders made the mistake of deciding to use the same road that they had taken to reach the venue of the public meeting to return.

"The road where the attack took place is seldom used by paramilitary personnel and state police. There was no road opening party to provide security cover to the Congress leaders, and the nearest camp of CRPF personnel was nearly 25 km away, which made it difficult for the rescue team to reach in time," said another senior officer.