South Asia Terrorism Portal

Maoist Minefield
Deepak Kumar Nayak
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On May 1, 2019, at least 15 Security Force (SF) personnel of the Quick Response Team (QRT) wing of C-60, the Maharashtra Police counter-insurgency commando unit, and a civilian driver, were killed in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion triggered by Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres on Dadapur Road near Lendali Nullah in Jamburkheda village under the Kurkheda Police Station limits in the Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra. The QRT team had set out in a private vehicle to reach a construction site at Dadapur, where the Maoists had set ablaze at least 36 vehicles belonging to a private road construction firm, earlier in the day. The firm was involved in the construction of a 36 kilometres-long tar road between Purada and Yerkad, passing through Dadapur. 

On April 9, 2019, five persons, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Bastar region, Bhima Mandavi (40) and his four security personnel, were killed as CPI-Maoist cadres targeted the convoy in which the BJP leader was travelling, by triggering an IED blast in a forested patch near Nakulnar Village under Kuwakonda Tehsil (revenue unit) in Dantewada District of Chhattisgarh. The Maoists blew up the vehicle of the Dantewada MLA with an IED and opened fire at the occupants at Shyamagiri Hills, when the MLA’s convoy was heading towards Kuwakonda from Bacheli area in Dantewada.

On March 18, 2019, CPI-Maoist cadres ambushed a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) patrol party, killing a trooper and injuring another six in the Kondapara Forest region under Aranpur Police Station limits in the Dantewada District of Chhattisgarh. A team from 231 Battalion was conducting a search operation in the Aranpur area when Maoists ambushed them with an IED blast followed by firing.

According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), the Maoists have already used IED device on at least 19 occasions killing 26 persons, including three civilians, 21 SF personnel, and two Naxalites, (Left Wing Extremists, LWEs), in the current year (data till May 5, 2019). During the corresponding period the Maoists had triggered 15 IED explosions, resulting in 18 fatalities (three civilians, and 15 SF personnel). Through 2018, there were 38 incidents of IED explosions resulting in 48 deaths (eight civilians, and 40 SF personnel). The number of IED explosions-related  fatalities stood at 25 (nine civilians, 14 SF personnel, and two Naxalites) from 54 such incidents in 2017; 47 (six civilians, 34 SF personnel, and seven Naxalites) from 60 incidents in 2016; 17 (one civilian, 13 SF personnel, and three Naxalites) from 45 incidents in 2015; 41 (17 civilians, 23 SF personnel, and one Naxalite) from 55 incidents in 2014; 37 (three civilians, 28 SF personnel, and six Naxalites) from 34 incidents in 2013; 40 (three civilians, and 37 SF personnel) from 40 incidents in 2012; 82 (22 civilians, and 60 SF personnel) from 84 incidents in 2011; and 399 (231 civilians, 165 SF personnel, and three Naxalites) from 183 such incidents in 2010.

A total of at least 762 persons, including 303 civilians, 435 SF personnel and 24 Naxalites, have been killed, while 879 have received injuries, in 612 incidents of IED explosion carried out by the Maoists across 75 Districts in nine States, since 2010. Out of the 612 incidents of landmine explosions, 63 were major incidents (each involving three or more fatalities). 

The maximum of 61 such incidents was reported from the Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh, with 10 civilians, and 27 SF fatalities, followed by 52 incidents in Dantewada (Chhattisgarh), with 49 civilian and 133 SF fatalities; and 44 from Sukma District (Chhattisgarh), with seven civilians, 21 SF and one Naxalite fatalities. In terms of States, Chhattisgarh recorded 210 of these incidents [289 fatalities, (82 civilians, 203 SF personnel, and four Naxalites)]; followed by Jharkhand, with 112 such incidents [113 fatalities (17 civilians, 90 SF personnel, and six Naxalites)]; and Odisha with 105 such incidents [60 fatalities (15 civilians, 40 SF personnel, and five Naxalites)]. 

The Maoists have most often resorted to the use of IEDs to inflict high casualties on SF personnel on patrol. Small SF contingents passing through inhabited areas are targeted with these devices, sometimes hidden underground or in bushes, on national highways, important State roads and near the SF camps. The use of mines allows the Maoists the avoid the dangers of engaging in any direct confrontation with SFs. When they take on large contingents of SFs deeper in the forest, however, IEDs are used to administer a first shock, before the extremists engage the troops in exchanges of fire.

The Maoists had used IEDs in the worst ever attack targeting SFs on April 6, 2010, in which 75 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and a State Police trooper were killed in an ambush in the thick Mukrana Forests of Dantewada District in Chhattisgarh. The Maoists were aware of the CRPF unit’s movement and executed the attack with fierce precision. They first blew up the SF’s anti-landmine vehicle and then began firing indiscriminately.

Evidently, the Maoists over years have been effectively using IEDs as a potent tool against SFs and a March 31, 2019, media report speaks of the 32-page Maoist ‘Central Military Commission (CMC) circular’, dated July 25, 2018, where the Maoists claim, that, over the years, strategies have been developed on IED drill, ambush, raids, fire and movement, unarmed combat, a military manual, company drills, booby traps, snipers, mine warfare and setting up camps. It declares that “useful lessons have been learnt” from “negative engagements. The ‘CMC circular’ also states,

A May 1, 2019, report quoted an unnamed senior Police officer noting,

The replacement of Muppala Lakshmana Rao aka Ganapathy, the 71-year-old ‘general secretary’ of the CPI-Maoist, on November 5, 2018, with his ‘second-in-command’ Nambala Keshava Rao aka Basavaraj (63), will also impact on the Maoists use of IEDs. Basavaraj was the head of the CPI-Maoist’s ‘military-wing’, PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army), since its inception, and is an expert in explosives and military techniques and has a good network with arms traders. He is also believed to be more easily inclined to violence and ‘military operations’, including the use of IEDs.

Indeed, a May 2, 2019, report quoted an unnamed Police officer posted in South Bastar, as saying that there has been a change in Maoist strategy after elevation of Basavaraj:

Significantly, after Basavaraj assumed the top post on November 5, 2018, 24 incidents of IED explosion have been carried out by the Maoists, resulting in at least 26 fatalities, including three civilians, 21 SF personnel and two Naxalites over a period of six months (data till May 5, 2019). During the preceding six months, 20 such incidents were recorded, with 18 fatalities, including three civilians, and 15 SF personnel.

As the Maoists suffer major reverses, the IED will emerge as their weapon of choice, minimizing risks to their cadres, and maximizing impact on SFs. With no effective counter available, SFs can only adhere as closely as possible to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) laid down to minimize loss of life, and continue with their battle against Left Wing Extremism in its shrinking heartland.

ULFA-I: Refusing to Die
M.A. Athul
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

On April 26, 2019, a cadre of the Independent faction of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I) identified as Monikanta Sonowal aka Adarsha Asom surrendered in the Tinsukia District of Assam. He revealed that, due to operations by Myanmar military between February 17 and March 2, food had become scarce in ULFA-I camps and “all supply lines are snapped”. According to a 2017 report, ULFA-I had more than eight camps in Myanmar.  

On April 18, 2019, an ULFA-I militant, identified as ‘lieutenant’ Udgiran Asom, surrendered before SFs in the Tirap District of Arunachal Pradesh.

On April 2, 2019, ‘sergeant major’ Bargij Gogoi of ULFA-I surrendered at Charaido District in Assam. The surrendered militant disclosed that all ULFA-I militants were used as bonded labourers in Myanmar. He reportedly disclosed,

More importantly, Gogoi stated that, after the Myanmar Army attacked the camps based at Taga in the Sagaing Region in Myanmar,

Jeevan Moran holds the rank of ‘major general’ in ULFA-I and is ‘second in command’, while Michael Deka Phukan is the ‘assistant finance secretary’.

Meanwhile, a May 4, 2019 report stated that 500 militants, including an unspecified number of ULFA-I militants (based in Myanmar), had approached the Security Forces (SFs) to surrender. The report further claimed that ULFA-I’s senior leaders were in touch with Police officers to work out the modalities of surrender.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), 2019 has already recorded the surrender of 13 ULFA-I cadres in six incidents (data till May 5, 2019) across two states [Arunachal Pradesh (one) and Assam (12)]. No surrender was reported during the corresponding period of 2018. However, six ULFA-I militants had surrendered in the remaining period of 2018. Two militants each had surrendered in 2017 and 2016, one in 2015, five in 2014, 18 in 2013 and one in 2012. Except for one surrender in Arunachal Pradesh (in 2019), the remaining 47 surrenders since August 8, 2012, when ULFA-I was formed, have been reported from Assam. The outfit has a presence in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland.

The catalyst for the recent spike in surrender has been the crackdown by the Myanmar Army on Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) based primarily in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. Between February 17 and March 2, the Myanmar Army clamped down on IIG’s resulting in the death of at least 20 of their cadres. The Myanmar Army also dismantled IIG infrastructure located at Taga, including a temporary base and two ULFA-I ‘military schools’.

Moreover, at least nine ULFA-I militants have been arrested by Indian SFs in the current year, from two states – Assam (five) and Arunachal Pradesh (four). Most recently, on April 24, 2019, an ULFA-I cadre, identified as Mridul Mahanta, was arrested from an unspecified location in Arunachal Pradesh. During interrogation he revealed that ULFA-I had killed three of its own cadres – Lalit Asom, Ashwini Asom and Rhino Asom – in Myanmar, when they were trying to flee in order to surrender before Indian SFs. He told his interrogators that the trio were captured in the Niliguri Gut camp area inside Myanmar (opposite the Tirap District of Arunachal Pradesh) by Golap Sonowal aka Golab Asom, the ‘camp commander’. Mahanta added that the killing of ULFA-I cadres was approved by ULFA-I ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Baruah.

According to the SATP database, since its formation in 2012, at least 238 ULFA-I militants have been arrested across four States (data till May 5, 2019). In 2012, nine militants were arrested [Assam (eight), Meghalaya (one)], while in 2013, at least 25 were arrested from two States [Assam (22) and Arunachal Pradesh (three)]. The number arrested in 2014 was 26 [Assam (15) Nagaland (three) and Meghalaya (eight)]; and 43 in 2015 two States [Assam (41) and Meghalaya (two)]. In subsequent years, the number was 46 in 2016 in two States [Assam (33) and Arunachal Pradesh (13)]; 27 in 2017 (all in Assam); and 53 in 2018 [Arunachal Pradesh (4) and Assam (49)]; and 9 in 2019 [Assam (five) and Arunachal Pradesh (four)].

Further, at least 37 ULFA-I militants have been killed since 2012 across four States - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland. In 2012, six militants were killed (all in Assam); 2013 witnessed four ULFA-I fatalities (all in Assam); 2014, the highest number at 14 fatalities [Assam (13) and Nagaland (one)]; 2015, two [Assam (1) and Meghalaya (1)]; 2016, six [Arunachal Pradesh (three) and Assam (three)]; 2017, four (all in Assam); and 2018, one (in Assam). No ULFA-I militant has been killed in the current year, thus far.

Indian SFs have achieved notable successes against ULFA-I and have put the group under sustained pressure, with significantly greater impact as a result of increasing support from their Myanmarese counterparts. As a result, on December 15, 2017, Mukesh Sahay, the then Assam Director General of Police (DGP) had noted,

ULFA-I has also steadily been losing its foreign bases over the years. The group previously had bases and a substantial presence in Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, has now been reduced to remote areas of the Indo-Myanmar Border. 

Since its formation in 2012, ULFA-I has killed a total of 37 persons (30 civilians and seven SF personnel) across three Indian States, of which 32 (29 civilians, three SF personnel) have been killed in Assam; three (all SF personnel) in Meghalaya; and two (one civilian, one SF trooper) in Nagaland. There have been no ULFA-I inflicted fatalities in 2019, while there were nine in 2018, four in 2017, seven in 2016, four in 2015, nine in 2014, two in 2013 and two in 2012.

Some notable attacks have, nevertheless, been executed by ULFA-I. In the most recent of these, on November 1, 2018, five Hindu Bengali daily-wage workers, including three of a family, were killed by ULFA-I militants at Bisonimukh village in Tinsukia District.

Further, ULFA-I’s efforts to regroup continue. According to recent reports, after losing bases in Sagaing region in Myanmar, ULFA-I has shifted its bases to Pangmi and Konyak Naga regions inside Myanmar, contiguous to the Changlang District of Arunachal Pradesh and Mon District of Nagaland.

Reports also indicate that the group have been able to recruit nearly 50 youth between August 2017 to November 2018. Referring to the recruitment, Assam Police intelligence wing chief, Pallab Bhattacharyya, observed,

Significantly, ULFA-I has been able to recruit people with technical expertise as well as those involved in the political process. On November 30, 2018, the Assam Police stated that a software engineer, identified as Abhijeet Gogoi from Dibrugarh District had joined ULFA-I. He uploaded a video on social media claiming that he had joined ULFA-I to “save the Assamese community”.

Earlier, in October 2018, the Vice President of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) Deragaon, identified as Pankaj Pratim Dutta, had joined ULFA-I a month after he was reported missing while on a trip to Guwahati. He shared his video on social media, which showed him holding a gun and giving reasons why he joined ULFA-I. He claimed,

Reacting to the development, AASU President Dipanka Kumar Nath stated, “There have been numerous such cases in the past. However, in the past 15 years or so, no one from AASU, except him, joined the ULFA.” AASU was formed by Lakshmi Kanta Saikia (founding President) and Dilip Kumar Bhattacharjya (founding General Secretary) in 1967.

ULFA-I’s lethality has been significantly eroded over the years, and the group is unlikely to make a dynamic recovery in the foreseeable future. However, polarising Government policies, most prominently including the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) has created opportunities for the group, providing a gush of oxygen to an otherwise dying organisation.