The Naxalite guerrillas carried out a major attack on the Dharmavaram camp of the anti-guerrilla CRPF paramilitaries in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh state on January 16. The spokesperson for the Communist Party of India (Maoist) said the attack was an “appropriate response to the recently launched Operation Kagaar-Surya Shakti by the fascist Brahminical Hindutva leaders to eradicate the Maoist movement and to “ongoing assault on Adivasi [indigenous tribal people]”. The fighters of the People’s Guerrilla Army of Liberation carried out the three-hour raid. More than 600 mortars and other grenades were fired into the camp. According to the CPI(M), 35 security personnel were killed and over 40 seriously injured.
Before the raid, the guerrillas had taken control of the entire periphery of the camp. Guerrilla sympathizers had prevented the movement of additional forces by blocking roads with huge tree trunks and the popular militia kept mines to hit security force reinforcements. A Maoist commander, Devalu, a battalion member, Vikram, and a people’s militia member, Madkam Devalu, were killed during the raid. Security forces cordoned off the area and an information blackout was imposed.