MAOIST LEADERS KILLED IN ANDHRA PRADESH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 001705

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINS PTER PHUM ASEC IN
SUBJECT: MAOIST LEADERS KILLED IN ANDHRA PRADESH

REF: A) Mumbai 1317 B) 05 Chennai 2761


1. (U) Summary: In a recent series of incidents in the state
of Andhra Pradesh (AP) in south India, police forces have
killed numerous Maoist insurgents, including several
leaders. Although the number of Maoist fighters in AP has
fallen due to police action and moves into neighboring
states, there is no end in sight for the insurgency. End
summary.
Two Maoist Leaders Killed in July 23 Clash -
--------------

2. (U) Police contacts in Andhra Pradesh have confirmed to
us press reports of several recent clashes with Maoist (AKA
Naxalite) insurgents in various parts of the state. In the
most recent and one of the largest incidents, on July 23,
eight Maoists including four women were killed in a shoot-
out with police in the dense Nallamala forest in central
Andhra Pradesh's Prakasam district. Among the killed was
Madhav, AP state secretary of the Communist Party of India -
Maoist (CPI(Maoist)). Madhav had replaced previous
CPI(Maoist) leader Ramakrishna, who had led the group's
delegation to the 2004 peace talks with the AP government.
Also killed in the clash was Jeevan, Maoist committee
secretary in Guntur district, also in central AP. Jeevan

SIPDIS
carried a Rs. 500,000 (US$ 11,111) reward on his head.

2. (U) According to senior police official and Chief of the
Grey Hounds, Mr. Durga Prasad, the operation that led to the
July 23 shoot-out was based on a tip-off that a Maoist
meeting was scheduled to be held in the forest. The
police's elite Grey Hounds unit, which is devoted to anti-
Maoist operations, had been combing the area for three days
when the gun battle broke out on July 23. Madhav, alias
Burra Chinnanna Goud alias Srisailam, aged 48, had joined
the Maoist movement about 25 years ago and was elevated to
the position of CPI(Maoist) state secretary in 2005. Madhav
was wanted in several cases of violence, including the
October 2003 assassination bid on former Chief Minister N.
Chandrababu Naidu.

Other Recent Anti-Maoist Actions
--------------


3. (U) According to Grey Hounds chief Prasad, the July 23
shoot-out was one of series of such incidents in AP during
recent months. In a separate major encounter on June 27, a
group of eight Maoists, including the commander of the
Nallamala dalam (group),his deputy and six others were
killed by police in central AP's Mahaboobnagar district.
On June 21, police killed two Maoists, including district
committee secretary Jagadeesh, in an encounter in Khammam,
to the south of neighboring Chhattisgarh state. On June 19,
two Maoists were gunned down on the AP-Chhattisgarh border.
In April, four Maoists were killed in an encounter after
they attacked two motorized launches in Nagarjunakonda,
Guntur district. Following the July 17 Maoist attack on an
IDP camp at Erraboru village in Chhattisgarh (see ref a),AP
Grey Hounds personnel crossed into Chhattisgarh to assist
local police there in tracking down the attackers.

Maoists Down, But Far From Out
--------------


4. (U) The AP police actions have taken their toll. AP
police told us, for example, that over the past six months
the number of armed Maoist cadres in the central and
southern parts of the state has been reduced from 130 to 70.
Since January 2006 throughout AP, 183 Maoists have
surrendered while another 82 have been killed, according to
the police. Killings committed by Maoist have dropped in
turn. During the first six months of 2006, Maoists killed
26 people, including seven police, in AP as compared to 211
killings, of whom 25 were police, in all of 2005.
Nonetheless, police believe that overall Maoist strength in
AP is down only slightly from the estimate of 1,000 armed
fighters they gave to us in late 2005 (ref b). Indeed,
after the recent incidents the AP government stepped up
security throughout the state.


5. (SBU) COMMENT: AP Chief Minister YSR Reddy denied that
the July 23 incident was a fake "encounter killing." After
the clash, AP Home Minister Jana Reddy appealed to the
Maoists to join the mainstream and offered to hold talks if
they would lay down their weapons. Given the fact that
police encounter killings of Maoists continue, it is
unlikely that the Maoists will take seriously the call for
peace talks. There may not be any immediate Maoist

CHENNAI 00001705 002 OF 002


retaliation due to the increased security in the state, but
our contacts advised us to expect more encounters and
exchanges of fire.

HOPPER