200 MAOIST INSURGENTS KILL SEVEN, INCLUDING FIVE POLICE, IN

UNCLAS KOLKATA 000196 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PHUM KCRM ASEC IN SUBJECT: 200 MAOIST INSURGENTS KILL SEVEN, INCLUDING FIVE POLICE, IN BIHAR REF: A) KOLKATA 0191 B) KOLKATA 0144 C) KOLKATA 0074 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On June 30 an estimated 200 Communist Party of India - Maoist (Maoists) insurgents killed seven people, including five policemen, in separate but simultaneous attacks on two police stations in the Rohtas district of the eastern Indian State of Bihar. On the same day, the Bihar police recovered six hand grenades and two rifles after a reportedly fierce encounter with Maoists near the Obera police station in Aurangabad district. The day before, on June 29, gunfire between Maoists and police in the town of Jamui resulted in a civilian death. These latest attacks reflect a recent increase in Maoist violence in eastern India as well as the Maoists' strong logistical capacity to mount large, well-armed assaults on security personnel. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Bihar police contacts told Post that the two attacks on the Rohtas police stations were conducted by approximately 200 Maoists resulting in seven deaths and in the Maoists taking weapons, including at least 10 rifles, and ammunition. Four injured policemen were sent to a hospital in Varanasi in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh for treatment. The Maoists left several handbills at the scene claiming the attacks were launched to protest "false cases" against alleged insurgents. ¶3. (SBU) The attacks also came soon after the Maoists' two-day transportation blockade, June 26-28, to protest the GOI's economic policies, including creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and alleged torture of Maoists in police custody. The blockade resulted in disruptions to road and rail transportation throughout the eastern states (Ref. A). The police source also added that in another incident on June 30, the police recovered six hand grenades and two rifles after a fierce encounter near Obera police station in Bihar's Aurangabad district. ¶4. (SBU) Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Anil Sinha told Post that, "We have recovered some looted weapons from them (Maoists). No casualty is being reported in the Aurangabad encounter. Also, in a separate incident in Jamui (a town in central Bihar) the Maoists and the police on June 29 exchanged firing in which one civilian was killed." He added that recently the number of Maoist-related incidents in the state has increased. ¶5. (SBU) Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, while visiting Kolkata, also confirmed to Congen that there had been a recent spurt in Maoist violence in Bihar. He believed that the rise in incidents resulted from the Maoists' effort to block the development work being carried out by the Bihar government in rural areas. Modi added, "They (Maoists) are of the view that if we build roads in rural areas, then it will be easier for the security forces to reach the rural area where they have their hide-outs. Hence, apart from the police, they are now also targeting the road construction contractors." ¶6. (SBU) Comment: In the past few months, Maoist violence appears to be on the rise in Bihar and in India's other eastern states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa. The large coordinated attacks on the Rohtas police stations are a concern as they demonstrate that the Maoists have the strong organizational and logistical capacity to support combat operations by groups of up to 200 insurgents. JARDINE