Feb. 18: Combing operations in Orissa forests yielded only old, rejected weapons today but in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, the battle against Maoists proved more successful with the security forces claiming 13 rebel deaths.

Orissa police chief G.C. Nanda and chief minister Naveen Patnaik claimed that over 400 of the 1,200 firearms looted by the Maoists in Nayagarh on Friday night had been recovered in Ganjam’s Gosama forests.

But most of these were .303 rifles that had either been destroyed or rejected by the rebels, admitted a senior officer involved in the operation, being carried out jointly by state police, CRPF and elite Greyhound units from Andhra Pradesh.

No Maoists were arrested today. Patnaik claimed many rebels had been killed but could not give figures. “The details of the casualties are being collected,” he said.

Yesterday, Orissa authorities had claimed the death of 20 Maoists in Gosama but given evasive replies about the recovery of bodies. Sources today said the return fire in Gosama had stopped and the Maoists may have escaped to the Uikhia forests.

“Intensive combing operations are in progress. It is expected that groups of Maoists would be apprehended shortly,” Patnaik said, adding that Delhi had agreed to send five more CRPF companies.

In Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, two encounters claimed 13 rebels and six CRPF jawans.

Guerrillas had ambushed jawans from the 31st battalion at Korampara, about 500km south of Raipur, and set off powerful landmines. A gun battle followed, killing three Maoists and six jawans.

Some 4km away near Erasmetta, the forces pursued a group of retreating Maoists and shot 10 dead. “Ten bodies have been recovered,” inspector-general of police R.K. Vij said.

Bengal alert

The Bengal government fears that the CPI (Maoist) may strike at police camps and railway stations in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia on Thursday during the outfit’s 24-hour bandh in the border districts of Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand.

The bandh has been called to protest the killing of seven rebels by Jharkhand police in Ghatsila on February 13.

An intelligence report reaching Bengal police headquarters says the rebels may launch offensives even in areas where their presence is negligible.

“Naxalites normally strike where they are strong. But we are worried after the raid in Nayagarh, which is not a Maoist stronghold. This is alarming,” home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray said at Writers’ Buildings after discussions with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb.

“We have put all police stations in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia on alert. Vigil has been intensified in the state’s 54 jails,” Ray said. Over 80 Maoists are lodged in the state’s prisons, with Midnapore Central Jail housing 30.

IG (headquarters) J.C. Chattopadhyay said reinforcements had been sent to Birbhum, Nadia and Murshidabad, too.

Posters have appeared in West Midnapore’s Jhargram town asking people to observe Thursday’s bandh. Similar posters were found in Bankura and Purulia towns.