Nilambur: The encounter in which two Maoist militants were reportedly killed at the Karulai range of the New Amarambalam forest reserve was the result of a well-prepared operation carried out by the Kerala police after specific intelligence that a Maoist group was camping in the area.
The search operation was conducted by the security forces led by Thunderbolts, the elite paramilitary commando unit of the Kerala police, anti-Naxal squad, and top police personnel from the districts of Wayanad, Palakkad, and Malappuram.
Malappurm district superintendent of police Debesh Kumar Behara supervised the operation by camping outside the forest area.
The security forces, who entered the forest on Wednesday night, sighted the armed insurgents around Thursday noon. Upon seeing the police, the group opened fire and the police retaliated. The gunfight inside the dense forest area lasted about three hours.
In the recent past, there were several incidents confirming the presence of the activists of the Communist Party of India (Maoists) inside the Nilambur forests.
The Maoist group had been reportedly camping in the Paduka forest range of Nilambur in Malappuram district for the last two months.
Local people had informed the police about the presence of a group of gun-wielding men and women in Nellikkuth, Poolakkapara and Uchakkulam colony located on the fringes of the forest. A couple of weeks ago, a tribal woman residing at the Nellikkuthu colony reportedly fell unconscious seeing the armed gang.
The police had taken stock of the situation to devise strategy to curb the rising Maoist menace in the area. Two weeks ago, the district police had convened a meeting at Mundabra Muhammed Kutty Memorial LP School, Kalkulam, in which local people also attended. The photographs of wanted Maoists were shown to the public using a projector. At the meeting, the Perinthalmanna DySP appealed to the people to inform them if strangers were found moving under suspicious circumstances in the locality.
There was specific intelligence information that CPI-Maoists had increasingly been using the forest tri-junction of the southern states as a safe haven following the intense anti-Maoist operations in their strongholds in north India.
Based on the tip-off, the district superintendent of Police called a meeting of local circle inspectors and sub-inspectors specialized in jungle warfare a few days ago and decided to begin the hunt.
The police comprising separate teams of the Thunderbolt Commando and the anti-terrorist squad launched the combing operations on Wednesday night. District police chief Debesh Kumar Behara reached Paduka in a private vehicle on Thursday morning to supervise the high-profile operation.
According to local people, they had heard the noise of distant shooting from inside the forests around 11 a.m. But they ignored the sounds thinking that somebody might have fired crackers to drive away wild animals. They came to know about the secret operation only when police vehicles and ambulances rushed to the spot around noon. By that time, the police had confirmed the death of two insurgents.
The gunfight continued as the group dispersed after the attack and tried to escape into the dense forest. The security forces stayed back in the jungle to search for the remaining members of the group through Thursday night. The bodies of the slain Maoists have not moved out of the forest till Friday morning.
