Combing operation continues for fifth consecutive day

Bhubaneswar (visakeo)More than 1,500 security personnel on Wednesday continued their combing operation in the forests of five southern districts of the State to nab Maoists for the fifth consecutive day, who had raided several police posts and escaped with a large haul of weapons after killing 15 people last Friday in Nayagarh.
Security personnel of the Orissa Armed Police, Central Reserve Police Force, Special Operations Group and Greyhound squads, sniffer dogs'squad backed by Air Force choppers have been combing the forests spread over five districts after failing to locate them in Gosma forests, police sources said.
Security forces on Wednesday further adopted a new strategy of guerilla warfare in the hunt for Maoists in the dense forests, where additional paramilitary personnel have joined the long haul operation. Fresh reinforcements of 500 CRPF men have joined the combing team, which was rushed by the Centre. Besides, using IAF choppers to spot the militants inside the jungle, the security forces deployed a large number of trained dogs, IG (Operations) SS Hansdah told The Pioneer over phone from the operation site. "We are concentrating only on possible locations of the rebels," IG Hansdah added.
The change of strategy to nab the militants was believed to have been influenced by the death of three prominent members of the SOG, including assistant commandant Pramod Kumar Satpathy during the combing operation.
Meanwhile, there was a rumour that over 42 bodies of the extremists were recovered from the Gosama forest where the encounter took place on Saturday. However, there was no official confirmation fearing several problems on grounds of human rights violation. While Kandhamal Superintendent of Police Nikhil Kanodia was leading a group in Daringibadi area, Southern Range DIG RP Koche was heading another group. Sources said the combing operation was likely to continue for a long period. The police, however, had not sighted any extremist since Saturday.
"Instead of chasing the militants in jungles, the force will now wait for the enemies to surface as per the new strategy," an officer involved in the operation said. "We do not want to sacrifice more personnel by directly confronting the militants and raiding their hideouts.
The enemies were obviously in an advantageous position inside the forests. They knew the routes and were well acquainted with the terrain," he said. The officer said moonlight had helped the militants to slip from their hideouts in Gosmah forest which was encircled by the security personnel. "It was easy for the militants to escape taking advantage of their knowledge of forest routes", the officer said.