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On 1st August, last,
Nallamalla forest which encompasses four districts of Mahboo-bnagar, Prakasham,
Kurnool and Guntur reverberated with the sound of automatic fire, grenades and 2
inch Mortar shells. It is the first ever encounter in Prakasham district and the
biggest loss suffered by the PW in Nallamala region in the recent past. Four
comrades fell while fighting heroically after an attempt to attack the notorious
Grey Hounds forces who were camping near the village of Alotampenta was repulsed
by the police using a huge number of grenades and mortar shells besides several
rounds of automatic fire. It was a daring action carried out at around 6 in the
morning by the first platoon of the PGA in AP.
The loss suffered by
the guerrillas of Alatam Penta (Penta = a cluster of houses) was not due to any
bravery on the part of the well trained Grey Hounds, armed with sophisticated
weapons, but the tactical mistake of the guerrillas in not making a thorough and
concrete assessment of the situation. The platoon did not realise that the
police force had spotted them prior to the attack and that they divided
themselves into ‘U’ formation using camouflage. Unsuspecting, 14 comrades of the
Platoon commenced their attack with the assault batch of five members and by the
commander – Com. Seshanna, heading straight into the enemy trap. But the
ferocity and dare-deviliry displayed by the assault team created panic among the
policemen some of whom fled the scene only to return to police headquarter after
two days. The policemen who were waiting in the bushes lobbed several grenades
and mortar shells on the assault team resulting in the death of four comrades on
the spot. The fifth comrade in the assault team picked up the AK 47 from the
dead commander and retreated. The rest of the Platoon members too retreated
realising that they were overpowered and that the police force had the advantage
of good cover and possessed 2 inch mortars. None were injured. The higher
officials of the police including the DGP, scared of a possible ambush by the
guerrillas arrived at the spot by helicopters and searched the surrounding
forest from air.
The plan of the
fascist Naidu govt., which was to wipe out the guerrillas in the jungles of
Nallamalla, particularly the state leadership, received a setback. In fact, that
the greyhound forces form North Telangana were deployed in big numbers at the
police stations in Dornala, Srisailam, Erraguntapalam and Veldurti by the first
week of July itself, even as the process of talks between the govt. and the PW
was going on. It had become crystal clear that the TDP govt. did not really have
any desire to work for peace in the state but wanted to wipe out the Party and
the PGA by winding up the talks business at the earliest and launching an all
out offensive. It was towards this end that the team of police officials, led by
the DGP visited Israel in the first week of July to purchase Unmanned Ariel
Vehicles (UAVs), surveillance equipments and other sophisticated technology to
wage counter insurgency warfare.
The AP State
Committee is well aware of the diabolic schemes of the tinpot dictator of AP,
made preparations to counter the anti-Naxlite Greyhounds if they dared to come
into the jungle. On July 23, three days after the Talks had literally broke
down, the guerrillas laid ambush near Adigoppula village in Guntur district
killing four jawans and injuring a few others. This daring attack by a handful
of guerrillas on a 60-strong well trained special striking force had completely
unnerved them. The next incident took place on July 31 when the second platoon
placed claymore mines when they saw the combing party near Allipalem in
Eerraguntoplem PS limits but as they got exposed, the policemen were saved.
There was an exchange of fire between the guerrillas and the greyhounds but no
one was injured. And on the very next morning, the attack by the guerrillas of
the joint platoon took place near Alatampenta
All these three
daring attacks by the PGA threw the forces of the govt. into disarray. The
combing operations had to be suspended, as the morale of the police force was
low. The hard terrain of the Nallamalla over which the police had no command
whatsoever, combined with the ease with which the guerrillas can employ hit and
run tactics, due to their absolute command over the terrain forced the police to
revise their plans. They are now planning to take the help of helicopters to
hunt down the guerrillas in Nallamall and the media had highlighted this
possibility.
The four comrades who
had laid down their lives in the attack at Alatampenta – Comrade Anand alias
Sudhakar was a member of the District Committee of Mehboobnagar and Commander of
the Joint Platoon of the PGA in AP. He hails from the village Laxmipalli of
Mahboobnagar, with only one arm (the other hand having been lost in an explosion
a some years back), he was terror to the police of Mehboobnagar. Every action,
which he had led, was successful and he was an inspiration to all the
guerrillas.
Comrade Saleem alias
Krishna was a section commander in the Platoon and hails from Southern
Narayanpur in Nalgonda district. Comrade Mahesh alias Kanakayya was a member of
the platoon and was promoted to the post of section deputy commander in the
recently held SC meeting. He carried the LMG, the fourth comrade was Sandhya
alias Mangamma who had joined the PGA two years ago and hailed from a poor
family from the village of Koosarrajupalle in Nalgonda district.
The death defying
sprit showed by these four comrades during their heroic action against the
Greyhounds will no doubt be an inspiration to the entire party and the PGA. It
had checked the advancing of the police deep in to the jungle.
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