Maoists show off strength, blow up 13 Jharkhand cops

[ejazr]

Maoists show off strength, blow up 13 Jharkhand cops - The Times of India

GARHWA/RANCHI: In yet another gruesome operation, Maoists on Saturday triggered a landmine blast near Garhwa district's Lalmatia village on Jharkhand's border with Chhattisgarh, killing 13 policemen.

It was the second big attack since last November's killing of Maoist ideologue Kishenji in Bengal's Jangalmahal area. Eleven security personnel were killed in a blast that targeted the cavalcade of Independent Lok Sabha MP Inder Singh Namdhari in Latehar in December.

Saturday's blast, which hit an anti-landmine vehicle carrying the cops around 11.15am, was so powerful that it threw the armoured vehicle several feet in the air and left it badly mangled as it came down crashing to the ground. The sound of the blast echoed as far as Bhandaria village, 4km away. As if to prove again that they had a free run of the place, Maoist guerillas kept local newsmen in captivity for two hours after the blast and even held a press conference.

All the combatants involved in Saturday's attack came without their faces covered. Eyewitnesses said these men, numbering 30 to 40, were all in their 20s and wore military fatigues. They said police should stop Operation Green Hunt, the multi-force offensive against Naxals in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The Maoists also demanded an end to what they called assassinations of "revolutionary leaders" in fake encounters. The guerillas took away all the arms and ammunition the cops were carrying.

The policemen were escorting Bhandaria BDO Basu Deo Prasad to Badgarh where villagers had put up a blockade since early morning in protest against the construction of a primary health centre in a market. The villagers were demanding that the health centre be shifted to another site and the BDO had gone to negotiate with them, said deputy superintendent of police Madhu Sudan. The BDO escaped unhurt as his vehicle crossed the spot only minutes before the blast.

The dead included Bhandaria police station SHO Raj Bali Chaudhary, ASI Haricharan Ram, head constables Pappu Kumar and Sujit Kumar and jawans Vishwanath Soren, Kedanial Soren, Sandeep Pandey, Sandeep Jha, Deo Narayan Bhagat, Phagu, Shiv Kumar Paswan, Vinod Kumar and driver Sunil Kumar.

State police spokesman and IG R K Mallik said the Maoists took away 14 weapons. "A combing operation has been launched by police and CRPF to nab the killers," he said.

 

[Ray]

Before undertaking movement, it is essential to undertake Road Opening with Road Opening Party (ROP) and then picqueting the road.

It is time consuming, but absolute necessary.

It is done when Army moves and all are informed which are the roads having ROP and cleared and which have not be done and without ROP

 

[ejazr]

The maoists problem doesn't get enough media attention as it should. We have more deaths from maoists attacks than any other violent activity but the media coverage and debates on this issue is probably the lowest among others.

 

[Ray]

The maoists problem doesn't get enough media attention as it should. We have more deaths from maoists attacks than any other violent activity but the media coverage and debates on this issue is probably the lowest among others.

On what do you base this information/ intelligence on that there are more deaths from Maoist attacks than any other violent activities (meaning other terrorist activities[?])?

If you have authentic information, then it would be worth knowing and would be an eye-opener!

There was a time when the it was only this being discussed on National TV. That is why such names like Varavara Rao, Nawalakha et al became known to all!

 

[Bhadra]

# Saturday's blast, which hit an anti-landmine vehicle carrying the cops around 11.15am, was so powerful that it threw the armoured vehicle several feet in the air and left it badly mangled as it came down crashing to the ground.
*It means it was about 50 to 60 kg of explosive
* It means quite a lot of digging and preparation time !!
* It means CRPF is not carrying out regular raod domination and detection activities.
* There was no road opening activities and raod domination.
* Total lack of intelligence.
# All the combatants involved in Saturday's attack came without their faces covered. Eyewitnesses said these men, numbering 30 to 40, were all in their 20s and wore military fatigues.

* Well this upgrading the military wing.
* They are getting well organised and bolder.

The guerillas took away all the arms and ammunition the cops were carrying.

"¢ CRPF is not securing their weapons ?
"¢ There is no QRT.
"¢ There is no one ahead or behind the MPV.
The policemen were escorting Bhandaria BDO Basu Deo Prasad to Badgarh where villagers had put up a blockade since early morning in protest against the construction of a primary health centre in a market. The villagers were demanding that the health centre be shifted to another site and the BDO had gone to negotiate with them,.

# This is a trap. Arrest that BDO and screw him.
# Why the outgoing and incoming route was same ??
# Why the road was not kept protected till the return?
.
The BDO escaped unhurt as his vehicle crossed the spot only minutes before the blast.
# Why the BDO was in his vehicle and not inside the MPV.

# If BDO could travel in open vehicles it means he did not need any protection.
# If the distance was less why could that BDO walk.
# These civil government officials are generally Maoist symathisers or passive agents? Otherwise how many DMs, Tahsildars or BDO get killed by Maoists? Hardly any.
# CRPF needs to develop culture of not believing the Civil Servants and suspect them in operational amtters arther than what they always do – Chaukidari of Civilian officials.

 

[lemontree]

These incidents will happen, the movement was known and so the maoists were prepared. The CRPF will slowly learn, to leave segregate their tasks from that of the local police. Also the CRPF should go cross country and should remove the road as a target by:-
- bring in logistics from the air (the road will cease to be a trap).
- Cross country movement and co-ordinated ops will keep the maoists on the run and cause attrition.

 

[debasree]

what the use of anti land mine vehicles when para millitary suffer same casualties in ordinary vehicles ,why dont the home ministry take any step to aquire or modernise those ,i say ground coffins

 

[mayfair]

Killing 13 policemen in a cowardly attack is a "show of strength"? Just when one thought that desi media dalaals could sink no lower.

 

[bhramos]

# Saturday's blast, which hit an anti-landmine vehicle carrying the cops around 11.15am, was so powerful that it threw the armoured vehicle several feet in the air and left it badly mangled as it came down crashing to the ground.
*It means it was about 50 to 60 kg of explosive
* It means quite a lot of digging and preparation time !!
* It means CRPF is not carrying out regular raod domination and detection activities.
* There was no road opening activities and raod domination.
* Total lack of intelligence.
# All the combatants involved in Saturday's attack came without their faces covered. Eyewitnesses said these men, numbering 30 to 40, were all in their 20s and wore military fatigues.

* Well this upgrading the military wing.
* They are getting well organised and bolder.

The guerillas took away all the arms and ammunition the cops were carrying.

"¢ CRPF is not securing their weapons ?
"¢ There is no QRT.
"¢ There is no one ahead or behind the MPV.
The policemen were escorting Bhandaria BDO Basu Deo Prasad to Badgarh where villagers had put up a blockade since early morning in protest against the construction of a primary health centre in a market. The villagers were demanding that the health centre be shifted to another site and the BDO had gone to negotiate with them,.

# This is a trap. Arrest that BDO and screw him.
# Why the outgoing and incoming route was same ??
# Why the road was not kept protected till the return?
.
The BDO escaped unhurt as his vehicle crossed the spot only minutes before the blast.
# Why the BDO was in his vehicle and not inside the MPV.

# If BDO could travel in open vehicles it means he did not need any protection.
# If the distance was less why could that BDO walk.
# These civil government officials are generally Maoist symathisers or passive agents? Otherwise how many DMs, Tahsildars or BDO get killed by Maoists? Hardly any.
# CRPF needs to develop culture of not believing the Civil Servants and suspect them in operational amtters arther than what they always do – Chaukidari of Civilian officials.

They plant Landmines below 6-10 Feet,
they plant it before months or days. so that the site would not look like their is noting unusual...
they use plastic drum+ Beer bottles filled with IED + iron bolts....

the people who plant this bombs are highly educated engineers........ as they need to connect all IED's......

 

[bhramos]

J'khand attack: Homage paid to slain policemen

 

[Ray]

Preparing IEDs is quite simple.

However, one has to keep a sharp look for tell tale signs.

Rubble, heaps of stones/ construction material on the side of the road, diggings, change of shade in the road texture, potholes and so on.

 

[bhramos]

Preparing IEDs is quite simple.

However, one has to keep a sharp look for tell tale signs.

Rubble, heaps of stones/ construction material on the side of the road, diggings, change of shade in the road texture, potholes and so on.

but to connect 20 beer bottles of ied's and placing them exact in that drum after and filling with contruction material.. and it should there for days with water proofs is not a ordinary matter........ may be only trained people with some qualification in education can do that.....

 

[Ray]

but to connect 20 beer bottles of ied's and placing them exact in that drum after and filling with contruction material.. and it should there for days with water proofs is not a ordinary matter........ may be only trained people with some qualification in education can do that.....

No, it really requires no education.

It might be mentioned that not all IEDs work as not all ammunition and explosives work.

You have dud ammunition and you have Dud Explosives too. Weather and storage as also quality does play a role.

I can't explain to you how an IED is made for obvious reasons. However, Google and see. Maybe something will be there.

On training aspect, we are trained to lay and lift mines (I can do it too having been trained in a 14 day cadre and have done it too!) and yet there are accidents! It does not mean that those accidents occurred because of lack of knowledge or training!

Anyone who has even very marginal training can prepare and lay IEDs.

 

[Ray]

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) / Booby Traps
IED Overview

An IED can be almost anything with any type of material and initiator. It is a "homemade" device that is designed to cause death or injury by using explosives alone or in combination with toxic chemicals, biological toxins, or radiological material. IEDs can be produced in varying sizes, functioning methods, containers, and delivery methods. IEDs can utilize commercial or military explosives, homemade explosives, or military ordnance and ordnance components.

They are unique in nature because the IED builder has had to improvise with the materials at hand. Designed to defeat a specific target or type of target, they generally become more difficult to detect and protect against as they become more sophisticated.

IEDs fall into three types of categories:

Package Type IED
Vehicle-Borne IEDs (VBIEDs)
Suicide Bomb IED

Though they can var widely in shape and form, IEDs share a common set of components and consist of the following:

A switch/trigger;
An initiator (fuze);
Main charge (explosive fill);
A power source for the switch/trigger; and
A container.

Improvised devices are characterized by varying employment techniques. In most of the techniques shown below, an unexploded ordnance (UXO) can easily be engineered to replace a mine or explosive device using one of the several following techniques:

Coupling. Coupling is a method of linking one mine or explosive device to another, usually with detonating cord. When the first device is detonated, it also detonates the linked explosive. This technique is often used to defeat countermine equipment, such as mine rollers
Rolling. The roller will pass over the initial, unfuzed device and set off the second fuzed device. This in turn detonates the overpassed device underneath the clearing vehicle. When the linked devices are directional fragmentation mines, they can create a large, lethal engagement area.
Boosting. Buried mines, UXOs, or other explosive devices are stacked on top of one another. The device buried deepest from the surface is fuzed. Fuzing only the deepest ordnance helps mask no- and low-metal explosive hazards placed near the surface. This reduces the probability of detection by metal detectors, and it increases the force of the blast.
Sensitizing antitank (AT) mines. On some nonmetallic AT mines, the pressure plate is cracked and the spring is removed to reduce the pressure required to initiate the mine. Similarly, the pressure plate can be removed from metallic AT mines to create the same effect. A pressurefuzed AP mine can be placed on the top of an AT mine, thus creating a very large AP mine as an alternative method.
Daisy chaining. AP mines may be used in daisy chains linked with other explosive hazards. Enemy forces may link the mines together with trip wire or detonating cord. When the initial mine is detonated, the other mines may detonate. This may also create large, lethal engagement areas.


Booby traps and IEDs are similar to mines in that they are designed to kill or incapacitate personnel. They are also emplaced to avoid detection and improve effectiveness. Most are victim-activated, but some may involve remote or command detonation architectures.

The use of booby traps is limited only by the imagination of the adversary. Booby traps are victim-activated devices intended to create casualties and terror and may or may not be found in areas of tactical significance.

Booby traps:

Are usually explosive in nature.
Are usually activated when an unsuspecting person disturbs an apparently harmless object performs a presumably safe act; for example, souvenir hunting.
Are designed to kill or incapacitate.
Cause unexpected random casualties and damage.
Create an attitude of uncertainty and suspicion, in effect lowering morale and inducing a degree of caution that restricts or slows movement.
Threaten force protection.
Assume that all mines are booby-trapped.

IED Incident Vs. Non-IED Incident

IED Incidents:

Hand grenade with pin pulled, placed in a small glass with glass filled mortar or plastic of paris.
120-mm HE mortar with hole drilled in shipping cap with an electric blasting cap inserted (placed in a sandbag). Suicide vest-leather-look sleeveless waistcoat with explosives and ball bearing sewn into the interior.
A thrown block of TNT with a grenade fuze inside

Non IED Incidents:

A hand grenade thrown into a building or dropped from a bridge.
A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fired at a vehicle from the manufactured launcher. An RPG fired from an improvised launcher (while the launcher is improvised, the round was fired as intended without modification).
A landmine placed in the roadway using the manufactured fuze to initiate it as designed.

Survivability

A study of the Soviet/Afghan war has proven extremely useful in addressing medical issues associated with mine strikes. Throughout the course of that war, 30 to 40 percent of trauma cases treated by Soviet medical personnel were caused by mine strikes. Necessarily, the Soviets adopted measures to improve force protection, gained a greater understanding of the effects of a mine strike on the body, improved casualty evacuation techniques, and implemented measures to plan for medical contingencies at the lowest level.

Some simple mine countermeasures that increase mine strike survivability include-

Training (refresher) in first aid.
Training in mine awareness.
Wearing flak jackets.
Sandbagging the vehicle floors using fine aggregates because large particles become missiles.
Riding on top of armored vehicles when the tactical situation permits.
Leaving vehicle hatches cracked with the latch pin in place to permit dispersion of the concussive effects of a mine blast.
Disseminating information through intelligence channels and/or the mine information coordination cell.

Injuries sustained during a mine strike are caused by the pressure wave of the primary blast, the penetrating and nonpenetrating wounds of the secondary blast, and the injuries associated with being thrown some distance. The combat medic or lifesaver must be aware of multiple wounds and combination wounds that usually result from a mine strike and must know how to thoroughly treat the patient. Additionally, treatment of shock becomes important, especially since 86.5 percent of Soviet mine strike victims went into shock. Fifteen percent of shock cases were irreversible, and the victim died in a short period of time.

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) / Booby Traps

 

[Ray]

Hope that helps you to realise that it is not something that is very technical!

 

[agentperry]

howcome anti-landmine vehicles are so badly damaged.if its amount of explosive then how come so much explosives goes into jungles without being notices and if landmine vehicle is faulty then these desi companies sucks

 

[bhramos]

No, it really requires no education.

It might be mentioned that not all IEDs work as not all ammunition and explosives work.

You have dud ammunition and you have Dud Explosives too. Weather and storage as also quality does play a role.

I can't explain to you how an IED is made for obvious reasons. However, Google and see. Maybe something will be there.

On training aspect, we are trained to lay and lift mines (I can do it too having been trained in a 14 day cadre and have done it too!) and yet there are accidents! It does not mean that those accidents occurred because of lack of knowledge or training!

Anyone who has even very marginal training can prepare and lay IEDs.

i respect your view sir, but what you are saying is in military way or normal terrorist way,
but have you ever seen this Maoist IED's and Landmines, i have seen personally, as still i live in a maoist effected area,

the low quality explosives are made up of either a type of rock powder or gelatin sticks. the electricity used bicycle's dynamo, or from cell phone battery.

 

[Ray]

I have not seen Maoist landmines, but I have seen actual IEDs landmines and effect.

They are quite effective, including IED that work in tandem or three in a row successively!

The military does not lay IEDs, though in war, they do lay booby traps which are something like IEDs.

 

[bhramos]

howcome anti-landmine vehicles are so badly damaged.

this is because, the explosive is too high Quantity, but of a low quality

if its amount of explosive then how come so much explosives goes into jungles without being notices

the local police know about their movements, and some times pay their hafta to maoists, so that they dont get killed or attacked, so in recent times mostly forces killed are of Central forces, this mainly happens in Chatisgarh, even politicians and christian missionaries give money to them, so that they can move freely...

if landmine vehicle is faulty then these desi companies sucks

i still doubt the same

 

[Ray]

if its amount of explosive then how come so much explosives goes into jungles without being notices

Because mining takes place and they get it from them because of the power that grows from the barrel of the gun!

he local police know about their movements, and some times pay their hafta to maoists, so that they dont get killed or attacked, so in recent times mostly forces killed are of Central forces, this mainly happens in Chatisgarh, even politicians and christian missionaries give money to them, so that they can move freely...

I presume it is a truism.

It is applicable for anyone who wishes to live or operate in the areas since the Police is ineffective to protect the people!