Raring to go for another kill

KHAMMAM: After notching up one of the major successes in the recent ‘exchange of fire’ with the Maoists, the Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh police have decided to go all out against the Naxalites by renewing offensive attacks in the coming days.

At a meeting chaired by AP Director-General of Police SSP Yadav, which was attended by top police brass of the two neighbouring States last night, the officials attributed the elimination of 17 Maoists in the Pamedu encounter on March 18 to the joint efforts of the two police forces.

They have also decided to exchange information regularly and launch combined operations against Maoists in Dandakaranya forest.

A police official said that the meeting was a launching pad to inflict another big blow on the Maoists. ‘‘Summer is conducive to identify the movements of the Maoists and their camps in the border areas and we have decided to launch joint operations,’’ he told this website's newspaper.

Yadav is understood to have directed the police officials to keep a tab on Naxalite movements to check them in their tracks.

When the officials informed him that they lacked adequate communication facilities in the border areas which helped the Maoists gain strength and keep tabs on the movements of the police, the DGP reportedly assured them that the communication network would be strengthened to avoid recurrence of Maoist attacks.

Yadav also congratulated the police officials who took part in the Pamedu encounter.

The Greyhounds personnel have been combing the border areas. However, the heavy rain for the last three days has hampered their operations to some extent, sources said.

Yadav visited the Girijan battalion at Sathupalli and inaugurated a community hall. The police took all precautions to keep his visit a secret, especially from the media glare.