11 securitymen killed in Red ambush – ToI – 4.5.11

More Than 20-25 Jawans Wounded; 7 Seriously Injured Airlifted To Ranchi

Uttam Mukherjee & Sonali Das | TNN

Lohardaga/Ranchi: In scenes straight out of a potboiler, security personnel were lured up a hilltop upon whiff of Maoist presence only to be caught in a nightmare ambush laid in advance, triggering IEDs which killed as many as 11 policemen and CRPF jawans. Adding to the action was a three-hour delay in receiving reinforcements, during which time jawans died a heroic death fighting rebels shooting off safely from their leafy liars.
    While Maoist standoffs have become de rigueur in the region, the incident on Tuesday morning on Dhardharia hills under Senha police station of Lohardaga district still shocks owing to the brazenness with which the rebels planned the operation. Apart from the 11 deceased, which included six CRPF jawans, more than 20-25 jawans were injured in the landmine blast. Seven seriously injured jawans and havaldars were airlifted to Ranchi for treatment in Apollo and RIMS while 15 others were sent by road.
    “The police had information that the Maoists were holding a meeting at Hurmu village on top of a hill, but when the police party comprising CRPF and district police reached the spot there was no sign of any Maoist movement,” said IG (operation) R K Mallick. When the party was descending from the hill, they fell into an ambush laid by the Maoists, triggering IEDs planted in and around an area of two kms, each at a distance of 1.5-2 feet, the IG said. The earlier information of the Maoist presence at Hurmu was a trap for the police, said Mallick.
    Soon after the blast, an encounter between Maoists and the police ensued, which lasted for more than four hours beginning 10 am on Tuesday. “The Maoists, however, could not come very close to the security personnel and had to retreat ultimately,” said Mallick.
    Jawans from both CRPF and DAP, however, were angry over delay in sending them reinforcement, which took more than three hours. CRPF jawan Krishna Kumar said every jawan who died had fought for at least four long hours waiting for reinforcement. He said Maoists had laid over 50 landmines in series in a radius of two kms on the road and they triggered the blast after all the jawans had entered the target area.
    “They used loudspeakers and asked us to surrender saying they had surrounded us,” he said. “But even though we were injured we did not give up and challenged them and finally they had to flee,” he said.
    Those from the CRPF who died on the spot were sub inspector Pratap Singh, head constables DN Singh, Satbir Singh and DC Dekka and constables Gajendar Singh and Radha Krishnan.
    Constables Dinesh Mahato, Parmod Kumar Rai, Rajesh Kacchap and Lalji of the district armed police also died on the spot, while head constable Chandrashekhar Singh succumbed to injuries on his way to Ranchi.