From A World to Win News Service
Revolution #006, June 19, 2005, posted at revcom.us
The following is an edited version of an article from A World to Win News Service.
May 23, 2005. A World to Win News Service. The Maoist-led People's Liberation Army took its offensive to a higher level in eastern Nepal with a simultaneous assault on three military barracks and a police post, inflicting serious defeats.
The news agency Nepalnews.com said on May 10, "According to latest reports, hundreds of armed insurgents opened attacks at joint security bases at Bandipur and Chorhawa and Ilaka Police Post at Mirchaiya in the district from around 10 p.m. Monday [May 9]. All three security posts are located near the East-West highway, also known as the Mahendra highway. The rebels had blocked the highway by felling trees. Security re-enforcements were, however, sent aboard night vision-equipped helicopter, reports said."
Some other Nepalese media managed to cover the news before the Royal Army could clamp down on the information. A daily newspaper reported that thousands of Maoist revolutionaries attacked three military barracks and that the fighting continued up to 6 a.m. the next day.
The Royal Army sent a gunship helicopter to attack the Maoists but the revolutionaries were able to resist its attacks. One newspaper reported there were 500 armed police at the Mirchaiya police post, 250 Royal Army personnel at the Bandipur Unified Command Outpost, 800 RNA soldiers at the Chorhawa barrack and around 1,500 were at the Dharapani military barrack. Later, under Royal Army control, the newspaper put out a different version.
The PLA quickly captured the Mirchaiya police installation and the village's National Development bank, seizing weapons and fought for many hours to capture the Bandipur military camp. Dozens of Royal Army personnel were killed.
Following the assaults, the Royal Army rampaged into villages like vultures whose nest is broken, and different forms of skirmishes broke out. According to a dispatch by the Janadesh correspondent in the Dhanusha district, the Royal Army bombed villages situated near Siwalik hill. More than 50 civilians were injured and dozens more are believed to killed.
In two villages in the Sindhuli and Udayapur districts, the Royal Army tried to encircle and destroy the Maoist forces but fell into a trap and were wiped out in the fighting. In one village, Lek Khani, about 35 RNA were killed on the spot and dozens of others are believed injured. The PLA seized half a dozen rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition, along with a huge cache of other war materiel. In Jarayotar, the PLA also seized weapons, a dozen RNA soldiers were killed and a similar number were wounded. Three PLA fighters were killed in this battle. After the PLA attacks, the feudal despot Gyanendra Shah deployed thousands of Royal Army forces, including its Ranger Battalion, considered its best unit, to encircle and destroy the Maoist revolutionaries. The week-long series of mobile and positional battles, a higher level of fighting than guerrilla warfare, is said to have left the Royal Army extremely demoralized.
The Kathmandu regime continues its censorship of the media. The state of emergency has supposedly been lifted, but civil liberties are still curtailed.
A member of the leading Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the Eastern Division Commander of the People's Liberation Army, Comrade Ananta, told Janadesh newspaper,
"Having launched assaults on four military camps simultaneously the PLA has fought positional warfare. We were completely successful in our plan. The Mirchaiya Unified Command barracks were captured. Bandipur was hit and partly captured. The other two, Chorhawa and Dharapani, were hit hard.
Talking talk about what the PLA achieved in these battles, Ananta went on to say:
"The biggest achievement of this fighting is that it has established the basis for positional warfare in the days to come. The success of the first plan of the strategic offensive on the eastern front has confirmed our party's analysis that the strategic offensive would focus on highways, cities and headquarters. We have learned not only mobile and positional warfare; we have also learned to fight stable positional warfare in the course of fighting.
"If you talk about the eastern command, a great achievement for the PLA is to fight an unprecedented level of positional warfare with simultaneous attacks on four military camps located on what the Royal Army considers its backbone and heart, the East-West highway. After the accomplishments of this battle, the enemy mobilized thousands of Royal Army soldiers, including its Ranger Battalion, its best contingent, to encircle and destroy us. But the PLA not only fought heroically and foiled their attempts but also inflicted serious losses on the enemy and captured heavy weapons and ammunition from them."