High alert in Telangana as Maoists make a comeback

HYDERABAD - Police went on high alert in north Telangana Friday as Maoists returned to the region after lying low for several years, killing three people and abducting another three since Thursday.

Police forces, including personnel of the elite anti-Maoist Greyhounds, began combing operations Friday in Eturanagaram forests of Warangal district and also in Karimnagar, where the extremists made their presence felt by killing three people, including a small-time political functionary by branding him a police spy.

They also abducted three people in the two districts apart from setting a state-owned bus on fire.

Fearing more attacks, police went on high alert in Khammam, Warangal, Karimnagar and Adilabad districts following reports that the armed rebels had sneaked in from neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Police also fear attacks in areas bordering Orissa and have advised politicians not to move in the interior areas.

The attacks by the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) were part of the month-long celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the formation of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA). The celebration began Thursday and police fear more such attacks through the month.

The PLGA was formed Dec 2, 2000 by the then Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML) People’s War Group (PWG) on the first anniversary of Koyyur encounter. The police had shot dead three top leaders of the PWG in Koyyur forests of Karimnagar district Dec 1, 1999.

After the failure of the first-ever peace talks with the state government in 2004 and the collapse of ceasefire in early 2005, Maoists suffered huge setbacks in the state with the killings of several top leaders by the police.

The police operations virtually eliminated Maoists from their traditional stronghold of north Telangana and also Nallamalla forests.