Eradication of Dissent - 02, Attacks

Betul,
Madhya Pradesh

Raman Nair is reading some reports in the back of his official car. The Ministry of Transportation Divisional Engineer in charge of roads in Betul District he had the job of conducting overall supervision of the various road works in this area. Betul is a rural area, with agricultural land bordered by dense jungles. the roads here were very poorly maintained and so the Ministry had issued contracts for building a four lane pucca road in the place of the 2 lane mud track.

The reports he is reading indicated a pattern of disruption of works emanating from some form of subversive terrorist group. One report indicated destruction of road roller engines. Another report said about several trucks transporting construction materials which were stopped, their drivers beaten up and the truck itself destroyed.

The Ministry thought that this could be some sort of Labor Union trouble, which was why a Divisional Engineer like him was being sent.

'This could be fun', Nair thought . One week in the countryside, away from the bustles of city life. 'It would be good to show my children the wildlife of India.' Raman Nair's twin children - a boy and a girl aged 7 were sitting in the front left seat next to the driver as his wife was dozing beside him in the back seat. The antics and excited chatter of the two toddlers was a steady amusement to the 50 year old Ministry driver, Naziruddin, who had grand kids of the same age. As he listened to their playful arguments, Naziruddin did not think much of a small bump on the the road in the middle of a turn. 

The IED was composed of an old 105mm artillery shell attached to a grenade whose pin was connected to a wire strung across the road in such a way that as the wire got depressed the grenade exploded the shell directly beneath the vehicle. The Mahindra sedan was flung 15 ft up in the air as shrapnels lanced the entire front and rear cabins. The 5 people inside had no chance of surviving. Naziruddin was flung outside of the flaming car but both his legs were blown off and a chunky hole was visible to him in his abdomen. In his last moments of life Naziruddin watched in agony as he saw the flames engulfing the car. His last sight was a crimson pamphlet that was floating towards him on which a black star and sickle glared ominously at him. 


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Belthangadi,
Karnataka

The idyllic village of Belthangadi has been a leisure posting for Lt. Suresh Vaidya, the Sub Inspector of Police at Belthangadi Police Station. This is an ideal quiet posting for someone aspiring to write the Civil Services exam and try for some rapid promotions in the heirarchy. The village is a postcard idyll of peace, quiet and tranquility and the occasional theft of a chicken and the regular fist fights outside the village tavern the only crimes of note.

Lt. Vaidya was talking on phone to his girl friend at Mysore, when he heard a sharp crack and a Constable standing guard at the door of the Police Station crumbled down. Ignoring to disconnect the line and the increasing hysteria of his girl friend, Suresh went towards the prostate constable and turned him around. A circle of blood was expanding in diameter around the man's chest.

As the officer tried to make sense of what is going on another shot was heard and he was hit in his fore arm.

By this the station had galvanized into action. The 10 man strong police contingent started loading up their pistols and shot guns and hunkered down waiting for what seems to be a massed attack. They could now see the numerous barrels firing at them. The Head Constable of the station was meanwhile raising the radio and trying to contact the District HQ. The telephone lines were cut. He cringed in horror as he saw a tell tale column of rocket exhaust flying towards him from the woods.

The RPG exploded against the door killing 4 constables instantly and further injuring Lt. Vaidya. As the shell shocked troopers tried to gather around and present defense they were under attack by about 25 or 30 armed men with assault guns and shot guns. As he saw his constables being mowed down by the attack, Lt. Vaidya raised his pistol with his injure right arm and kept shooting. He could not move, the RPG had taken away his legs and he was bleeding profusely from numerous bullet wounds to his arms and torso. Through the crimson haze of his bloodied eyes, Suresh saw a sight that made his blood boil - silhouetted by flaming torches a crimson flag with a white sickle and star. With his fading consciousness Lt. Vaidya raised his pistol once again but then he saw no more. 


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"This is ARPF Station Mysore. What is the situation. Over?"

"Sir, we are under attack. Our unit is moving from Jaladurga to Bagalkot and we are at Kudalasangama now. Our patrol detachment of 15 is under attack from terrorists. Assumed enemy strength - 30. We need immediate reinforcements. Over."

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"APF Mysore, APF Mysore, this is ARPF Mysore. One patrol unit from Armed Reserve Police Force is under terrorist attack at Kudalasangama by numerically superior forces. We need immediate intervention. Over."

"ARPF Mysore, this is APF Mysore. We shall dispatch a unit immediately."

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"Get down, Get down, you fool!! Dont stand up like that. Now Constable Muthappa and Chiran, you two go into the trees to the left and start flanking them. Constable Rashid, Constable Thomas, at my order lob two smoke grenades at them and start providing counter fire as Head Constable Chang and Constable Ummar will flank from the right. Now Ajay, get the hell away from me, it is only a flesh wound."

Sub Inspector Lt. Vijay Singh was hit by a shrapnel in his left shoulder and was receiving a compress from the Constable Ajay Nair.

Their convoy of a truck and a Jeep were passing through the dense jungles outside of Kudalasangama when an RPG fired from the treeline struck the jeep in its engine. Thankfully no one was injure severely. As the convoy stopped it was apparent that it was an ambush when assault rifles started firing from the trees to the truck and jeep's body. While clambering out of the truck, a Constable was shot in the neck and died on the spot. In the ensuing 30 minute battle yet another Constable was struck in his abdomen. He died of blood loss.

Now Lt. Singh was organizing a counter attack now that the Airborne Police Force was sending some reinforcements. Radio contact had been made with the APF Blackhawk which was flying low and fast from behind the attackers.

In another 15 minutes the exact location of the terrorists were figured out and the counter assault started. Volley firing their guns behind a smoke screen these ARPF troopers charged the terrorists while behind them another platoon of troopers were launched to cut off the retreat. Having landed the troopers the APF helicopter hovered above raking the enemy positions with its 7.62 mm Light Machine Gun. In another 15 minutes the last of the terrorists were dead.

While waiting for a fresh convoy to arrive from Jaladurga, the troopers evacuated their injured comrades including the now exhausted Lt. Vijay Singh. They also gathered up the bodies of the dead terrorists. A total of 40 terrorists had been involved in the ambush.