- CALCUTTA: The Maoist guerrillas struck with lightning speed, racing inside the security camp in cars and on motorcycles, spraying the overwhelmed police forces with rifle fire and sending a clear message to the Indian government — back off.
The attack Monday on the remote police base in West Bengal state killed at least 24 police officers and showed that the insurgents are a potent force despite a government crackdown.
“The Maoists have the capacity of launching such attacks at will,” said Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management.
The violence highlights the growing power of the shadowy rebel group, which is now present in 20 of the country’s 28 states and has an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India’s biggest internal threat comes from the rebels, who have tapped into the rural poor’s growing anger at being left out of the country’s economic renaissance.
Some local governments in central and eastern India are unable to function because of rebel attacks. The central government and various states launched the “Operation Green Hunt” offensive to flush militants out of the forests.
In response, the rebels have blown up train tracks, attacked railway stations and assaulted railroad employees, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.