South Asia Terrorism Portal
Maoists: Explosive Assertions Deepak Kumar Nayak Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On December 8, 2019, two personnel of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), a specialised unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) proficient in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare, were injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion triggered by cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) near the Piyakuli Hills of Tamar town in Ranchi District, Jharkhand.
On December 2, 2019, a CRPF trooper was injured while defusing one of five IEDs planted by cadres of the CPI-Maoist in the Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh. While the SFs successfully defused four IEDs planted between Sarkeguda and Tarrem villages, the fifth IED planted in the nearby Sagmetta village exploded while being defused, injuring the trooper.
On November 30, 2019, cadres of the CPI-Maoist triggered an IED explosion, blowing up a bridge, in Bishnupur town, Gumla District, Jharkhand. No casualty was reported.
On November 22, 2019, a CRPF trooper sustained injuries in an IED explosion carried out by CPI-Maoist cadres near Tarrem village under Basaguda Police Station limits in Bijapur District, Chhattisgarh. The incident took place when a patrolling team of the CRPF’s 168 Battalion was out on an area domination operation.
According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Maoists have already carried out at least 47 IED explosions killing 35 persons, including 11 civilians, 22 SF personnel, and two Naxalites (Left Wing Extremists), while injuring another 97 persons, including 47 civilians and 50 SF personnel, in the current year (data till December 8, 2019).
Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on Left Wing Extremist (LWE)-linked violence, at least 1,432 incidents of IED explosion have been carried out by LWEs, resulting in at least 1,774 fatalities, including 508 civilians; 1,137 SF personnel; 89 Naxalites (LWEs); and 40 unspecified, while another 2,078 persons sustained injuries, including 712 civilians; 1,253 SF personnel; 56 Naxalites; and 57 unspecified. The highest number of such incidents were recorded in 2009, at 187, resulting in 182 fatalities; including 36 civilians; 128 SF personnel; and 18 Naxalites, while another 221 persons sustained injuries, including 64 civilians; 145 SF personnel; one Naxalite, and 11 unspecified. However, in terms of casualties, 2010 was the worst year. At least 388 fatalities, including 200 civilians; 177 SF personnel; two Naxalites; and nine unspecified, and another 295 injuries, including 208 civilians; 71 SF personnel; one Naxalite, and 15 unspecified, were recorded in 149 IED explosions in 2010.
An overview of the geographical distribution of IED explosions suggests that the maximum of 362 such incidents were reported from Chhattisgarh, followed by Jharkhand, 312; Andhra Pradesh, 236; Bihar, 228; Odisha, 172; West Bengal, 64; Maharashtra, 44; Telangana, six; and two each from Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala. One incident was reported from Madhya Pradesh.
Incidents of IED Explosion: 2000*- 2019**
States
Number of incidents
Killed
Injured
Civilians
SFs
LWEs
NS
Total
Chhattisgarh
362
151
456
17
8
632
141
462
2
6
611
Jharkhand
313
46
285
21
4
356
124
340
5
23
492
Andhra Pradesh
236
94
45
20
1
160
138
103
19
262
Bihar
228
26
130
14
15
185
78
22
168
Odisha
172
18
95
0
119
114
3
162
West Bengal
64
163
58
222
201
65
268
Maharashtra
44
9
62
7
12
90
91
110
Telangana
Karnataka
Kerala
Uttar Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
TOTAL
1432
508
1137
89
40
1774
712
1253
56
57
2078
Source: SATP, * Data since March 6, 2000, **Data till December 8, 2019.
The use of IEDs by the Maoists is intended to inflict high casualties on SF personnel on patrol/combing operations. During operations, small SF contingents pass through inhabited areas and are targeted with these devices, hidden underground or in bushes, on national highways, important State roads and near SF camps. The use of mines helps the Maoists avoid engagement in any direct conflict with SFs. Further, these IEDs are often used to administer a first shock, when the Maoists take on large contingents of SFs deeper in the forest, when the rebels engage state Forces in exchanges of fire.
In the worst ever IED attack targeting SFs, on April 6, 2010, the Maoists first blew up the SF’s anti-landmine vehicle and then fired indiscriminately, killing at least 75 CRPF personnel and a State Police trooper in an ambush at Chintalnad’s Tarmetla village near the thick Mukrana Forests of Dantewada District in Chhattisgarh.
Significantly, in the 13 months and four days, since November 5, 2018, when Nambala Keshava Rao aka Basavaraj (63), assumed the top post of ‘General Secretary’ in the Maoist hierarchy, at least 52 incidents of IED explosion by the Maoists have been reported (data till December 8, 2019). These incidents have resulted in at least 41 fatalities (15 civilians, 24 SF personnel and two Naxalites) and 100 injuries (48 civilians and 52 SF personnel). During the preceding 13 months and four days, 53 such incidents were recorded, which had resulted in 47 fatalities (six civilians, 40 SF personnel, and one Naxalite) and 72 injuries (one civilian, 67 SF personnel, one Naxalite, and three unspecified).
Evidently, both the number of IED incidents and related fatalities have come down since Basavaraj took over the mantle. Basavraj, an expert in explosives and military techniques, was believed to be more easily inclined to violence and ‘military operations’, including the use of IEDs. Basavaraj had replaced the preceding CPI-Maoist ‘general secretary’, Muppala Lakshmana Rao aka Ganapathy (71), on November 5, 2018.
Though no surge is evident in the use of IEDs, under the new leadership, the Maoists are increasingly relying on IEDs. According to a May 8, 2019, report, the intelligence wing of the Andhra Pradesh Police disclosed that, unlike in the past when new recruits were given extensive training in handling weapons such as .303 Lee Enfield rifles, 12 bore guns and SLRs [Self-Loading Rifles), the senior leaders are now training young recruits in making and detonating IEDs.
Moreover, in a September 19, 2019, report, CRPF, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Moses Dhinakaran, observed,
Meanwhile, reports indicate that Maoists are now focussing on the use of Cordtex, detonating cord generally used in mining, in the making of IEDs. A small quantity of Cordtex can have a huge impact when used in IEDs; is easily available and can trigger IEDs containing as many as 250-300 locally made bombs in one go — a phenomenon given the deceptively appealing name, ‘daisy chain’.
Crucially, the Maoists continue to get easy access to explosives. According to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)’s latest Annual Report 2018-19, the SFs recovered at least 9,822 gelatine sticks; 16,795 detonators, and 1,724.22 kilograms of explosives, just between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019.
This is in spite of the Government taking several measures to control access to explosives, including a programme to improve awareness of existing rules and processes:
Nityanand Rai, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, informed the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament) on June 26, 2019, that the CRPF presently had 27 Bomb Detection and Disposal Squads (BDDS) covering Jammu & Kashmir, LWE-affected areas and other parts of the country. However, in a September 19, 2019, report, an unnamed Chhattisgarh-based officer, acknowledged,
IEDs consequently remain an urgent concern for the security establishment and for the Government. Attada Babujee, Superintendent of Police (SP), Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh, disclosed, on May 8, 2019, “The Maoists have some senior leaders such as Tech Shankar and Tech Kiran, who are experts in making and innovating IEDs.”
Further, on August 26, 2019, the Union Home Minister (UMH) Amit Shah, while assuring State Governments that the Centre would cooperate fully in eliminating LWE, emphasised that innovative measures were needed to prevent IED incidents that had caused significant casualties in recent years.
Regardless of the overall declining trend in Maoist violence across the country, the rebels continue to inflict a significant toll, particularly on the SFs. Easy access to explosive materials makes it unnecessary for them to engage in high-risk direct confrontations with the State’s Forces. An effective and coherent policy to curb access to these deadly materials is necessary if the continuing haemorrhaging of the State’s fighting personnel is to be stanched.
Defenseless Elders Tushar Ranjan Mohanty Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
Tribal leader Malik Khan Gull and his son were killed in an explosion in the Tank area of Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on November 25, 2019. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack thus far.
A pro-government tribal elder was killed in an explosion near the Pakistan-Afghan border in the Upper Dir District of KP on August 18, 2019. Four others were also killed in the attack. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
A tribal elder, Wali Khan Achakzai, and two of his guards were killed in a blast at Chaman town of Killa Abdullah District in Balochistan on May 8, 2019. Levies forces said Achakzai was returning home from work when the blast occurred, completely destroying the car and killing all three on the spot.
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), during the first 11 months and eight days of the current year (2019), there have been five such incidents, resulting in death of six tribal elders across Pakistan’s tribal areas. During the corresponding period of 2018, five tribal elders had died in three incidents; and in the remaining period of 2018, there was one more incident resulting in one death. Throughout 2017, there were two such deaths in two incidents, and another two deaths in two incidents in 2016.
Attacks on Tribal Elders in Pakistan: 2005-2019
Year
Incidents
2005
16
2006
2007
2008
24
13
2009
2010
42
2011
2012
11
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Total*
116
170
99
Source: SATP, *Data till December 8, 2019
Fatalities peaked at 42 in 24 incidents in 2010, but dropped to just two each in 2016 and 2017. Worryingly, there have been four and five incidents, respectively, in 2018 and 2019, with six fatalities in each of the two years.
SATP’s partial data, based on erratic reporting in the Pakistani media, confirms the killing of at least 170 tribal elders since 2005 in 116 incidents. The first such incident, documented by the SATP database, occurred on May 29, 2005, when former Federal Minister and Senator, Malik Faridullah Khan Wazir, was assassinated along with two other tribal elders, reportedly by four al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in the Jandola area of the South Waziristan Agency in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
The terrorist attacks on tribal elders and their families are the result of the abject failure of the state mechanism in providing security to leaders who, despite of their tribal lineage and linkages with different militant groups, supported the Government in its war against terrorism. Brigadier (Retd.) Mehmood Shah, former FATA Security Secretary, had stated on May 11, 2017, that the Taliban began targeting tribal elders in 2005 after the elders voiced their support for the Government, Army and intelligence agencies. He had then observed,
Not surprisingly, during the peak of militancy in Pakistan between 2008 and 2015, at least 127 tribal elders were killed in the tribal areas, accounting for 78 per cent of the total of 170 of tribal elders killed between 2005 and 2019.
In the meantime, the Army launched major counter-insurgency operations – Zarb-e-Azb (Sword of the Prophet) on June 15, 2014, and Radd-ul-Fasaad (Elimination of Discord) on February 22, 2017 – directed against domestically oriented terror groups. These operations forced terrorist formations operating in the tribal areas to escape the region and take shelter in areas across the border, inside Afghanistan.
Moreover, the war like situation in Pakistan’s tribal areas forced a large number of people to leave the region. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) report of January 18, 2018, between 2008 and 2014, more than five million people were displaced from FATA due to the security operations by the military against non-state armed groups.
With an overwhelming proportion of the population moving out, only two tribal elders were killed in each year in 2016 and 2017, as against 14 such killings during 2015.
The attacks targeting Tribal elders have, however, registered a spike thereafter. Indeed, tribesmen from different parts of North Waziristan staged a protest demonstration at Mirali town on May 14, 2018, against the increasing violence in the area, especially the targeted killings of tribal elders. Tribal elder Malik Ghulam Dawar observed that tribesmen were facing severe unrest due to regular targeted killing incidents. He added that they had abandoned their homes and had become Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). However, now, on repatriation, they are once again facing violence. He further stated that such incidents confirm the presence of anti-social elements in the area, and the Government needs to fulfill its responsibilities.
Despite Government apathy, the tribal elders along with their tribes had been supporting the Government and Army in the fight against terrorism. Whenever operations have been launched in the tribal areas, the tribal elders backed by their tribal militias, have come forward to provide manpower and logistics support to state forces.
The Government and Army have acknowledged, from time to time, the support and sacrifices by tribal elders and their tribal militia. Recently, on September 27, 2019, the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited Miramshah town in North Waziristan and interacted with tribal elders from the North and South Waziristan Districts. According to a press release issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the COAS emphasised that cross-border terrorist incidents were gradually reducing due to the ‘hardening’ of the Pak-Afghan border through fencing and other measures. He urged tribal elders to continue playing their role in guiding the youth, stating: “Combination of experience & wisdom of elders with energy and talent of the youth is recipe for success.”
Regrettably, the Government has failed to protect the elders on whose support it has substantially depended. The state’s continued apathy towards the tribal elders has emboldened terrorists, and former will, in all likelihood continue to die at the hands of the latter.
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia December 2 - 8, 2019
Security Force Personnel
Terrorists/Insurgents
INDIA
INDIA (Left-Wing Extremism)
INDIA (Total)
PAKISTAN
KP
PAKISTAN (Total)
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The South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) is a weekly service that brings you regular data, assessments and news briefs on terrorism, insurgencies and sub-conventional warfare, on counter-terrorism responses and policies, as well as on related economic, political, and social issues, in the South Asian region.
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