How Operation Black Forest has dealt a severe blow to Naxals

On April 21, around 10,000 personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Chhattisgarh Police launched a large-scale joint operation against Naxals, named ‘Operation Black Forest’.This operation, which ended on May 11, was one of the most comprehensive anti-Naxal campaigns, with several top cadres believed to be either killed or seriously injured. However, due to the difficult geographical conditions, the security forces have not yet been able to recover the bodies.CRPF Director General GP Singh said the operation has broken the back of the Naxals’ top leadership and “has to a large extent hastened the end of Naxalism in Chhattisgarh, which will go a long way in fulfilling the resolve of the Centre to end Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the country by March 31, 2026”.The operation, he added, helped in “breaking the Naxal leadership into smaller groups, which are now scattered in the neighbouring region, with many of them either killed or grievously injured”.Till date, 214 Naxal hideouts and bunkers have been destroyed and a total of 450 IEDs, 818 Bomb and Grenade (BGL) launcher shells, 899 bundles of Codex, detonators and a huge amount of explosive material have been recovered. Around 12,000 kg of ration supplies have also been found.Eighteen personnel from the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Guards (DRG) were injured in various IED explosions.The backgroundThe border areas of Sukma and Bijapur in Chhattisgarh have been the stronghold of Naxalites, including some of the powerful armed outfits like the PLGA Battalion, CRC Company and the Telangana State Committee, for quite some time.The Naxalites had formed a ‘unified command’ and taken refuge in the Karreguttalu Hill (KGH), considered an impregnable fortress of the ultras by the security forces, as the area is located at the border of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh and Mulugu in Telangana.KGH is an extremely tough and challenging hilly terrain.Since the past more than two years, the Naxalites had established their base in this area, where 300-350 armed cadres had taken refuge.The CRPF gradually established forward operation bases, which increased their dominance in these Naxal-affected regions and helped them in mapping the entire region of KGH.How Black Forest was plannedA multi-agency special team was formed for carrying out Operation Black Forest. It gathered technical and intelligence inputs received from various agencies. The team then carried out meticulous planning, including determining the strength of the deployed forces, scheduling continuous mobilisation and arranging timely replacements.These inputs were regularly analysed and conveyed in real time to field commanders, which enabled security forces to locate Naxal operatives, their hideouts and arms caches, while also helping to prevent casualties from improvised explosive devices.On the basis of this intelligence, the security forces successfully recovered a substantial quantity of IEDs, BGL shells and other explosive materials.Cave interventionCRPF Director General GP Singh said a big learning from the operation was cave intervention. Normally, the troops are trained for house and vehicle intervention, and the cave environment was an unfamiliar challenge.Chhattisgarh DGP Arun Dev Gautam said intelligence reports several months ago indicated Naxals from different states were establishing a unified command at the location.Across the cave network, forces found four Maoist technical units for arms manufacturing, along with medicine and first aid kits, sewing machines for stitching Naxal uniforms, and 1,100 beer bottles. Singh said they discovered a new phenomenon of Naxals using beer bottles to pack minimal explosives, which are hard to detect but effective in causing injuries.Prior to KGH becoming a base of Naxals, it was used as an escape route by the insurgents to flee into neighbouring Telangana whenever forces intensified anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh. This escape route has now been cut off by the security forces.

How Operation Black Forest has dealt a severe blow to Naxals

Animesh Singh

Tribune News Service

How Operation Black Forest has dealt a severe blow to Naxals

Animesh Singh

Tribune News Service

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