MAOISTS IN ORISSA AMBUSH COUNTER INSURGENCY UNIT AND

UNCLAS KOLKATA 000193

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER MARR KCRM SOCI PGOV ASEC IN
SUBJECT: MAOISTS IN ORISSA AMBUSH COUNTER INSURGENCY UNIT AND
BELIEVED TO HAVE KILLED 39 PARAMILITARY POLICE


1. (SBU) Summary: On Sunday June 29, 36 commandos from Andhra
Pradesh's elite counter-insurgency Greyhound force were missing
after Maoist rebels ambushed a boat carrying the group on the
Balimela reservoir in Orissa's remote Malkangiri district. Also
missing were three Orissa police escorts. Although the Orissa
administration has not pronounced them dead officially, the
Orissa Home Secretary told post that all the 39 were presumed
dead. Twenty-six Greyhound men escaped the ambush and swam two
miles before being rescued. Loss of 36 highly-trained commandos
is a setback for the efforts to fight against the Maoist
insurgency in eastern India. End Summary.


2. (U) The June 29 Maoist ambush on the Greyhound unit took
place at around 10:30 in the morning on the Balimela reservoir
in Orissa's Malkangiri district. The virtually inaccessible
terrain - known as the "Cut-off Point" - is about 450 miles
Southwest of Orissa's capital Bhubaneswar. A 60-member
Greyhound company, along with a team of Orissa's Special
Operations Group (SOG) had gone to a village called Patparmetla,
located about 50 miles from the district headquarters town of
Malkangiri, to conduct patrolling operations against Maoist
rebels. After the exercise, the SOG group started back towards
Bhubaneswar by road.


3. (SBU) The Greyhound group took a boat and was heading towards
Andhra Pradesh, moving along the Balimela reservoir. On the
way, the boat had to pass through a narrow gap with hills on
either side. As it was passing through this narrow point, the
boat came under heavy gunfire from automatic weapons. Grenades
were also lobbed at the group. The Greyhound forces retaliated.
Unconfirmed reports from Bhubaneswar indicated the boat
capsized after it was hit by rockets fired from
rocket-launchers. Orissa Home Secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra told
post that there was no use of rockets but that there was heavy
automatic gunfire. The boat capsized in water depths of about
100 ft.


4. (SBU) Contacts raised questions to Post as to how such a
trained counter-insurgency group could be trapped in an ambush.
Apparently, the group had gone into a cluster of villages which
the Maoist rebels had declared a "liberated zone." Prior to the
operation, no helicopter was deployed, the area was not
sanitized and the group had no local guide to escort it out of
the Cut-off area. Orissa's Malkangiri district is a
tri-junction with Chhattisgarh in the West and Andhra Pradesh in
the South - all known Maoist strongholds.


5. (SBU) The rugged terrain makes the Balimela reservoir a
difficult area to access. Contacts in Bhubaneswar said that the
Greyhound group was desperate to get back to their base as they
had run out of food and water and could not source supplies
locally as the locals were sympathetic to the Maoists.
Contacts, quoting private conversations with Orissa Police
officials, said that the Maoists intercepted the Greyhound
group's radio conversation about the group's movement, bearings
and lack of food and water as the personnel continued to talk
over unsecure frequencies.


6. (SBU) COMMENT: The loss of counter-insurgency personnel will
be a setback for Orissa and Andhra Pradesh's efforts against the
Maoists. While the Orissa Police and the state administration
are tightlipped about the circumstances of the massacre, the
Balimela ambush clearly shows that the rebels have the capacity
to effectively integrate local intelligence and firepower to
destroy in a single engagement a sizeable security unit.

JARDINE