Koraput: A day after eight CRPF jawans were killed in Bijapur, the Andhra and Orissa Police have inflicted heavy casualties on the Maoist Ultra's. The special police force of the Andhra and Orissa Police at Narayanpatana broke up a major Maoist hideout.
Reports indicate at least ten Maoists were killed in the 20-hour-long gunbattle which ended on Sunday afternoon.
But the police haven't found any bodies. A classic Naxal tactic is to remove their fallen comrades, so as not to appear weak.
"Well, according to the latest information with me, I don't have the details but the information that I got was that during the encounter with the Maoists, there were a number of injuries and also perhaps some Maoists were killed," said Naveen Patnaik, Orissa's Chief Minister.
Narayanpatna a hideout for Maoists, is at the Orissa-Andhra Pradesh Border, and close to Chattisgarh as well. It's an area where the Maoists aren't keen engage the forces, because it's used as a hideout for senior leaders and as a base.
The Andhra Police received intelligence that a large number of Maoists and a senior leader Ramakrishna had moved into the forest at Narayanpatna in April. After which they coordinated the operation with the Orissa police -a joint operation, which is increasingly becoming common and successful along the state border.
It's in stark contrast to what's happening in other states like in Chhattisgarh.
This attack killed eight CRPF jawans, all of them proceeding on leave. The government here, wants more support.
"In today's scenario, the Army should be used to tackle Naxals. It completely depends on the central government to take a call on this," said Chattisgarh Home Minister Nanki Ram Kawar.
The two incidents within 24 hours however has raised several crucial questions - Why is it that the CRPF is repeatedly taking casulties while state police seem to slowly but surely getting the better of Maoists? Could it be related to the CRPFs training and leadership?