3 jawans killed in clash with Maoists in Sukma: Timeline of past attacks in Chhattisgarh

The three DRGs were killed while two others were injured after an encounter broke out between the security forces and the Maoists, who laid an ambush between Kunde and Jagargunda areas, on Saturday.

Raipur: The killing of three District Reserve Guards (DRG) in an encounter with Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Saturday has brought back the grim memories of similar attacks in the past. The three DRGs were killed while two others were injured after an encounter broke out between the security forces and the Maoists, who laid an ambush between Kunde and Jagargunda areas, on Saturday.

The timeline of Maoist attacks in Chhattisgarh: On November 29, 2003, seven police personnel were killed in a landmine attack by Maoists of the People’s War Group (PWG) between Guddipal and Modypal in the south Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. The incident occurred when Rajendra Pambhoi, the Congress candidate from Bijapur constituency, was on his way to Madded from Bijapur two days before the Assembly elections, which were scheduled for December 1 that year.

Pambhoi escaped unhurt, but seven police personnel, who were part of his security convoy, were killed in the blast. On February 9, 2006, eight Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel were killed and several others were injured as a large group of Maoists attacked the National Mineral Development Corporation store in the Hirauli area of Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh and looted 17 rifles and close to 50 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, an explosive used to detonate iron ore mines.

On March 15, 2007, at least 55 persons, including 16 personnel of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force and 39 Special Police Officers (SPOs), were killed and 12 persons were injured in an offensive by the CPI-Maoist cadre on a police base camp at Rani Bodli village in Bijapur district in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh. In the attack, Maoists took away 39 weapons, including self-loading rifles, AK-47 rifles .303 rifles and a mortar from the police camp.

According to reports, only 11 of the 79 police personnel and SPOs posted at the camp managed to escape. Likewise, on August 29, 2007, at least 12 Security Forces personnel were killed in an ambush by the CPI-Maoist cadre near Jagargunda forests of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh. In all, 200 armed Maoists ambushed a convoy of the Security Forces personnel while it was en route to secure an area at Tarmekla village in Jagargunda where the Maoists had blocked the construction of a road.

On November 4, 2007, around 100 cadre of the CPI-Maoist ambushed a police party near Pamedu Police Station of Bijapur District in Chhattisgarh and killed 16 security forces personnel, including six CRPF personnel. The Maoists first triggered a landmine explosion and then indiscriminately fired on the policemen killing 16 of them.

In 2008, on October 20, 12 Para-military personnel belonging to the CRPF were killed and six others injured in an ambush by the CPI-Maoists near a forest village between Modupal and Kompalli in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. Bijapur SP Ankit Garg said the incident took place around 1.30 pm when CRPF men patrolling the area were moving towards the Modupal base camp.

They were attacked by over 100 Maoists, who first set off an explosion and then opened fire on July 12, 2009, cadre of the CPI-Maoist killed 30 police personnel, including an SP, in two separate incidents in the Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh. Around 200 Maoists were involved in the attack. On October 8, 2009, 17 policemen were killed in an encounter with Maoists at the Laheri police outpost in Rajnandgaon.

Over 100 Maoists ambushed an elite police team that was conducting a routine exercise near the outpost bordering Chhattisgarh. There were no reports of any Maoists getting killed in the encounter, which lasted three to four hours. The following year 2010, on June 29, 23 personnel of the 39 Battalion of the CRPF were killed in a Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district.

The attack took place near a hilly stretch of Jhadha Ghati, three km from Dhudhai when soldiers were returning from their patrol. On April 6 the same year, 75 CRPF personnel and a State Policeman were killed in an attack by 1,000 CPI-Maoist cadre in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. The incident took place near Chintalnad-Tarmetla village in the district when a CRPF patrol party was returning from a road opening duty in the Maoist-infested Mukrana forest between 6 am and 7 am.

The team had been camping in the interiors of Tarmetla forest for the last three days as part of a combing operation. On May 8 that year, seven Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed when Communist Party of India- Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadre blew up their bullet-proof vehicle in Bijapur district.

The Maoists triggered an improvised explosive device blast near Pedakodepal village on the National Highway 16, 284 km from Raipur and fired at the security personnel, Director-General of Police Vishwaranjan said. After a lull of a few years, on December 1, 2014, Maoists killed 14 CRPF personnel, including two officers, in Sukma.

The ambush took place near Kasalpara village. There were reports of six Maoists being killed in the encounter. On March 11 that year, 15 security personnel were killed in a Maoist ambush in Sukma. One civilian also died in the crossfire. The incident took place when a joint team of the CRPF and the police consisting of 50 personnel divided into two platoons were moving from Tongpal village to Jeeram Ghati.

In all, 100 Maoists surrounded them and opened fire. One civilian, Vikram Nishad, also died in the crossfire, while three were injured. On March 11, 2017, 11 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed when Maoists ambushed a road opening party of the security forces in Maoist-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

Five jawans were also injured in the attack that took place in the dense forests of Bhejji police station limits at 9.15 am when a patrol party of CRPF's 219 battalions was out for a road opening task near Kotacheru village. On April 24 that year, Maoist rebels ambushed a group of Central Reserve Police Force officers, who were guarding road workers in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

At least 25 CRPF soldiers were killed and seven others were critically injured in the attack, which was one of the deadliest in recent years. On May 20, 2018, six security forces personnel were killed by a roadside bomb planted by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. On March 21, 2020, 17 security personnel, including 12 from DRG, (District Reserve Guards) were killed in a Maoist ambush in the Minpa area of the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

On April 3, 2021, 22 security personnel were killed, and 31 sustained injuries in the encounter with Maoists along the Sukma-Bijapur border. The deceased included eight from the District Reserve Guard (DRG), seven from the CRPF's CoBRA and six from the Special Task Force and one from the 39 Bastariya battalion of the CRPF. On June 21, 2022, as many as three CRPF jawans were killed and several others sustained injuries in a Maoist attack along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border.