2024 Abujhmarh clash | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Communist Party of India (Maoist) | India | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Niti † | Unknown | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
PLGA | District Reserve Guard Special Task Force | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
35+ | 100+ | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
35 killed [1] [2] | 1 injured |
The 2024 Abujhmarh clash was an encounter between Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Indian security forces in the Abujhmarh forest area in Chhattisgarh, India. It was the deadliest encounter for the rebels in 2024. [3] [4]
Anti-Naxal operations have greatly increased in 2024 especially in the Abujhmarh forest area of Chhattisgarh which have been considered a Maoist stronghold. The Maoists had a great setback due to the operations with more than 200 cadres killed in the year 2024. [5]
The Police had an information that a meeting consisting of Senior maoist cadres of East Bastar Division had convened a meeting in the Thulthuli village this week and a huge gathering was happening in the area. [6]
As per the information, units of District Reserve Guards and Special Task Force consisting more than 100 soldiers was sent out to the Abhujmarh forest area. At 12:30 PM (IST) encounter broke out between maoist cadres and the soldiers resulting in the death of more than 31 maoist and a huge cache of weapons and ammunition discovered including Ak-47s, SLR's and grenades. [7]
As of 5 October, police have identified 15 bodies of the total killed and they had a total bounty of ₹1.3 crore. A senior cadre named Niti alias Urmila having a bounty of ₹25 lakhs was also killed in the encounter.
On 14 October, Maoists revealed that they had lost 35 of their comrades and some also injured in the encounter increasing the official death toll. [8]
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a banned Marxist–Leninist–Maoist communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the "semi-colonial and semi-feudal Indian state" through protracted people's war. It was founded on 21 September 2004, through the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War (People's War Group) and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI). The party has been designated as a terrorist organisation in India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act since 2009.
Mahendra Karma was an Indian political leader belonging to Indian National Congress from Chhattisgarh. He was the leader of the opposition in the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha from 2004 to 2008. In 2005, he played a top role in organising the Salwa Judum movement against Naxalites, a Maoist group in Chhattisgarh. He was a Minister of Industry and Commerce in the Ajit Jogi cabinet since the state formation in 2000 to 2004. He was assassinated by Naxalites on 25 May 2013 in the 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley while returning from a Parivartan Rally meeting organised by his party in Sukma.
Dantewada District, also known as Dantewara District or Dakshin Bastar District, is a district in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Dantewada is the district headquarters. The district is part of Bastar Division. Until 1998, Dantewada District was a tehsil of the larger Bastar District.
Salwa Judum was a militia that was mobilised and deployed as part of counterinsurgency operations in Chhattisgarh, India, aimed at countering Naxalite activities in the region. The militia, consisting of local tribal youth, received support and training from the Chhattisgarh state government. It was outlawed and banned by a Supreme Court court order but continues to exist in the form of armed auxiliary forces, District Reserve Groups, and other vigilante groups.
The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is part of an ongoing conflict between left-wing extremist groups and the Indian government. The Naxalites are a group of communist supportive groups, who often follow Maoist political sentiment and ideology.
COBRA is a special operation unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) of India proficient in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare. Originally established to counter the Naxalite movement, CoBRA is deployed to address insurgent groups engaging in asymmetrical warfare. Numbering ten battalions as of 2011, CoBRA is considered to be one of the most experienced and successful law enforcement units in the country.
The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is part of an ongoing conflict between Left-wing extremist groups and the Indian government. The insurgency started after the 1967 Naxalbari uprising and the subsequent split of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leading to the creation of a Marxist–Leninist faction. The faction splintered into various groups supportive of Maoist ideology, claiming to fight a rural rebellion and people's war against the government.
Operation Green Hunt is the name used by the Indian media to describe the "all-out offensive by paramilitary forces and the states forces" against the Naxalites. The operation is believed to have begun in November 2009 along five states in the "Red Corridor."
The April 2010 Dantewada Maoist attack was an 6 April 2010 ambush by Naxalite-Maoist insurgents from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) near Chintalnar village in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh, India, leading to the killing of 76 CRPF policemen and 8 Maoists — the deadliest attack by the Maoists on Indian security forces.
Greyhounds is a police special forces unit of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Police departments in India. Greyhounds specialises in counter-insurgency operations against Naxalite and Maoist terrorists.
On 25 May 2013, Naxalite insurgents of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) attacked a convoy of Indian National Congress leaders in the Jhiram Ghati, Darbha Valley in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, India. The attack caused at least 27 deaths, including that of former state minister Mahendra Karma and Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel. Vidya Charan Shukla, a senior Congress leader, succumbed to his injuries on 11 June 2013.
Abujhmarh is a hilly forest area, spread over 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi) in Chhattisgarh, covering Narayanpur district, Bijapur district and Dantewada district. It is home to indigenous tribes of India, including Gond, Muria, Abujhmarhia, Madiya, and Halba. It was only in 2009 that the Government of Chhattisgarh lifted the restriction on the entry of common people in the area imposed in the early 1980s. Geographically isolated and largely inaccessible, the area continues to show no physical presence of the civil administration, and is also known as "liberated-zone" as it is an alleged hub of Naxalite-Maoist insurgency, the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its military wing, People's Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA), who run a parallel government in the area.
The 2018 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election was held to elect members to the Legislative Assembly of the Indian State of Chhattisgarh. The election was held in two phases for a total of 90 seats; the first for 18 seats in South Chhattisgarh was held on 12 November 2018, and the second for the remaining 72 were held on 20 November.
The Sukma attack was an ambush carried out by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) against Indian paramilitary forces on 24 April 2017, during the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. It was the largest ambush since a similar attack in 2010, in the neighbouring district of Dantewada.
On 13 March 2018, at least nine Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and six others were injured when Maoists blew up a mine-protected vehicle with an IED in Sukma district, Chhattisgarh, India.
Abhishek Pallava is an IPS officer of the 2013 batch, from the Chhattisgarh cadre, and is the Superintendent of Police of Kabirdham district of Chhattisgarh. He has been working in the field of policing for last ten years, after quitting his medical practice.
Madvi Hidma is the youngest member of the Central Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist). Hidma is allegedly responsible for various attacks on the security forces in Chhattisgarh, and the 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley. A bounty has been placed for his capture.
The 2021 Sukma-Bijapur attack was an ambush carried out by the Naxalite-Maoist militants from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) against Indian security forces on 3 April 2021 at Sukma-Bijapur border near Jonaguda village which falls under Jagargunda police station area in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, the ensuing gunfight lead to the killing of 22 security personnel as well as 20 Naxalites. The death toll was the worst for Indian security forces fighting the Naxalites since 2017.
On 26 April 2023, a blast took place in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. While they were returning from an anti-Maoist operation undertaken based on intelligence inputs, a party of ten policemen and their driver who were members of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) of Chhattisgarh Police were killed in a blast caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated by Naxals. The incident happened in the Dantewada neighborhood of the Aranpur police station.
The 2024 Kanker clash was an encounter between cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Indian security forces in the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh. It was one of deadliest encounters for the rebels in the insurgency.