At least 20 EFR jawans are feared to have been killed, officials said — at least five of them burnt to death after being forced to huddle in a makeshift tent which was then set ablaze.

The Maoists are said to have escaped with the camp’s stockpile of INSAS rifles and SLRs.

This is the second Maoist attack on an EFR camp, the last one was on November 4 in Gidhni near the Jharkhand border in which four jawans were killed.

The Silda camp, set up in 2009 before the Lalgarh operations, had over 50 jawans when the attack occurred.

Said DGP Bhupinder Singh: “From the police station, we got a report that around 16 jawans have been killed. However, the figure might rise.”

According to preliminary reports, a group of about 100 armed Maoists arrived in two vans, a Bolero and six motorcycles. They launched the attack by throwing a grenade just outside the camp which drew the jawans out who were then targeted. Many jawans are said to have escaped.

Two Maoists were injured but they were reportedly taken away by their associates. Local officials said that Maoists also planted landmines on the stretch leading to the camp which is in the middle of a crowded, bustling market. Seven shops next to the camp were also torched by the Maoists.

Today’s attack comes six days after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram visited Kolkata and held a meeting with Chief Ministers of Maoist-affected states at Writers’ Buildings giving final touches to what was being planned as a joint operation by security forces. The Home Minister also urged Maoists to shun violence and come to talk. But within hours of today’s attack, Maoist leader Kishenji called up local TV channels and claimed responsibility for the attack. Threatening to repeat such strikes, he said this was “our reply to Operation Green Hunt” and claimed that “at least 35 jawans” were killed.

Sources said that the late arrival of police reinforcements at the camp helped the Maoists’ retreat with some officials saying that many of them could also have crossed over to Jharkhand.

The bullet-ridden, charred bodies of the EFR jawans were strewn in pools of blood as fire raged in the tent.

“It was a gory sight,” said Rakesh Lepcha, the cook of the camp. One of the lucky survivors, Lepcha said: “Maoists were firing indiscriminately and we all fled. They set fire to our camp tents.”

Significantly, the Silda market area does not have any forest cover close by. It’s a junction from where one can travel to Jhargram, to Bankura-Durgapur, to Belpahari and towards Jharkhand.

Apparently, one big Maoist group, after the attack, returned to Dharampur, 40 km from Silda, en route to Lalgarh. They stopped to “celebrate” and fired blanks. Personnel from the nearby CRPF camp fired at the group but the exchange was short and the Maoists dispersed.

On October 21, 2009, the Maoists in West Midnapore had first launched an attack on the Sankrail police station and killed two policemen — an ASI and a constable. They abducted the Officer-in-Charge and released him after three days. On February 2, they attacked the Barikul police station in Bankura. The police repulsed that attack and had killed two women Maoists.