Taleban-Style Insurgency Tactics

I don’t have the metrics, but it is clear that in the past couple of weeks the intensity and frequency of attacks by the Naxalites has increased in Chhattisgargh. At least 18 people were killed in two separate incidents on Saturday and late Sunday night. This comes less than a week after 11 people were killed in the state in a co-ordinated ambush and an intensification of the Naxalites campaign during India’s marathon election.

What’s interesting about the attacks is not so much their frequency (Chhattisgargh has, for the past few years, become the epicentre of the insurgency), but rather their sophistication and their effectiveness. These have not been defencive actions by a guerrilla group in retreat. They have been well-planned and co-ordinated offensive actions against a variety of heavily armed paramilitary police forces. Using Taleban-style, IED/surround and fire tactics, the Naxalites have shown that they are capable of inflicting serious causalities on some of India’s most well-trained, non-military, forces. And with each succesful attack, the Maoists increase their arsenal of weaponry. This month also saw the first use of shoulder-launched missiles by the rebels.

Delhi should be worried.