Cops destroy Red den in 3-day ops

RANCHI: The "infallible" fort of the CPI (Maoist) in Koel Sank zone was "destroyed" by security forces after a three-day operation concluding on Wednesday.
The secret operation was launched on Monday by 10 companies of district police, CoBRA, CRPF and Jharkhand Jaguar. The security personnel also recovered IED and indigenous arms factories spread over an area of two sqkm.They also recovered around three tonnes of explosives, chemicals and parts of weapons.
It is for the first time the security forces launched the attack on Sarju-Gotag hills axis under Latehar police station, considered to be the headquarters of Maoist in the region. Almost all the roads leading to the area are heavily mined and no one ever dared to launch an offensive fearing heavy casualty.
Koel Sankh zone of the Maoist spreads through Palamu, Garhwa, Latehar, Lohardaga, Gumla, Gaya, Aurangabad and North Chattishgarh districts and it is considered the richest of the rebel zones in Bihar and Jharkhand.
On Wednesday, three additional companies of security forces, 20 anti-landmine vehicles and eight tractors were sent to the forest to bring back the explosives. Senior officers maintained a low profile in the past three days and no one was asked to brief the media about the operation till it is over.
DGP G S Rath surveyed the forest cover through helicopter on Wednesday and IG (Ranchi zone) Rezi Dung Dung, CRPF IG (operation) D K Pandey camped in the forest to supervise the operation led by Latehar SP Kuldeep Dwivedi.
The forces also recovered a blueprint of May 3 Lohardaga serial IED blasts in which eleven police personnel were killed. "The blueprint was recovered from the indigenous IED factory where real time testing of explosives was done," said Jharkhand police spokesperson S N Pradhan.
On top of Gotag hillock, Maoists were running a training camp and IED factories and senior leaders of Koel Sankh zone, considered the backbone of Naxalism in Bihar and Jharkhand, often visited the spot. The camp often remained guarded with over 100 rebels and more then 500 IEDs have been planted on the routes to the camp.
Pradhan said it was the so-called headquarters of Koel Sankh zone of the Maoist which had been completely destroyed by the security forces. "It is for the first time, that such huge amount explosives and other materials have been recovered from the camp considered as Maoist headquarters which has been now destroyed." He said the camp was like a rebel fort situated on a hillock, which was never conquered by police earlier.
Security forces never dared to venture the routes to Gotag village that falls on the border of Latehar and Gumla districts and it is for the first time that an anti-Naxalite operation by such a large number of personnel was launched to dismantle the headquarters considered infallible by many.
However, security forces were not able to arrest any major rebels but recovered huge quantities of literatures including books on making IEDs, chemical formulas, over 20 sacks of ammonium nitrates and other materials.