DEM VOLKE DIENEN

Since the beginning of the new year the People´s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) under the leadership of the Communist Party of India (CPI[Maoist]) carried out several actions against the old Indian State in the ongoing People´s War.

On January 14, a personnel of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) (Indian border guard forces) was injured in a blast of an Improvised Explosive Devices, in Chhattisgarh´s district of Kanker. According to the reactionary authorities the IED were triggered by suspected combatants of the PLGA. “The incident took place between 12.30 pm and 1 pm near Patkalbeda village under Rowghat police station area when a team of the SSB’s 33rd battalion was out for railway line protection duty, […] When the patrolling team was cordoning off the forest near its camp located in Kosronda village, located over 150 kms away from capital Raipur, Naxals detonated an IED […]”¹

On January 8, more than a dozen vehicles engaged in mining activities were torched by suspected PLGA-Forces in Jharkhand's Gumla district. “The vehicles which have been set on fire included 2 drill machines, 2 JCB machines, 4 Hyvas, 6 excavator machines.”² According to the Free Press Journal of India, "Naxalites" claimed responsibility for the attack on a poster left behind urging the companies to stop mining activities.

On January 2, a Special Task Force (STF) soldier was injured in an ambush suspiciously laid by the PLGA in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district. “The encounter broke out […] located over 200 km from the state capital Raipur, when the STF was out on an anti-Maoist operation […] When one of the patrolling teams was advancing through a hill, it came under fire from a group of armed Naxals that led to the encounter [...]”³ According to the reactionary armed forces the combatants of the PLGA managed to retreat without any losses. Also, a subsequent combing operation called in by the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was unsuccessful for the reaction.