06-20-2009, 06:38 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Fierce gunfight erupts as Maoists hit back</b>
pioneer.com
Saugar Sengupta | Pirkata (Lalgarh)/Midnapore
<b>Forces fear more attacks at night</b>
Top Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao alias Kishanji had on Thursday welcomed the Central forcesâ advance towards Lalgarh saying, <b>âThey will enter Lalgarh, but will not return from there. We will teach them a lesson.â</b>
His followers have converted words into action within 24 hours, mounting a surprise attack on the security forces from the rear. Though baffled for a while, the forces staged a tactical retreat and launched retaliatory fire leading to a three-hour gunfight which had stopped just ahead of sundown. No casualty was reported on either side till reports last came in, though Government sources said there was hardly any means to know the number of casualties if there were any among the Maoists.
If the security forces aided by the two companies of the Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), a specialised anti-Maoist force, had decided to wrap up the operation by Friday, the Maoists seemed to outsmart them by launching a counter attack from the rear: At Pirrakhuli-Koima which had reportedly been sanitised on Thursday.
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pioneer.com
Saugar Sengupta | Pirkata (Lalgarh)/Midnapore
<b>Forces fear more attacks at night</b>
Top Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao alias Kishanji had on Thursday welcomed the Central forcesâ advance towards Lalgarh saying, <b>âThey will enter Lalgarh, but will not return from there. We will teach them a lesson.â</b>
His followers have converted words into action within 24 hours, mounting a surprise attack on the security forces from the rear. Though baffled for a while, the forces staged a tactical retreat and launched retaliatory fire leading to a three-hour gunfight which had stopped just ahead of sundown. No casualty was reported on either side till reports last came in, though Government sources said there was hardly any means to know the number of casualties if there were any among the Maoists.
If the security forces aided by the two companies of the Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), a specialised anti-Maoist force, had decided to wrap up the operation by Friday, the Maoists seemed to outsmart them by launching a counter attack from the rear: At Pirrakhuli-Koima which had reportedly been sanitised on Thursday.
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