Army trains BSF men in jungle warfare

As the Centre prepares to strike at Maoists strongholds in Chhattisgarh, the Border Security Force (BSF) is inducting 10,000 men who will be trained in jungle warfare and mine detection by the Army and solely used to fight the red brigade.

Apart from the 10,000 BSF men, another 5,000 will join central forces in Chhattisgarh in the first week of November soon after the elections. “The 5,000 men have finished their training. But most of them were posted in Maharashtra for the election. They will now be deployed in Chhattisgarh,” a senior BSF officer said.

Senior officials said the BSF was inducting 22 battalions of  about 24,000 men. Of these, nine battalions of about 10,000 men will be trained to fight in Maoist-affected areas.

Senior officials said apart from the BSF training, the 10,000 men will be trained in jungle warfare to avoid getting ambushed and identify land mines that are spread cover several kilometers in the tri-junction between Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa. At present, there are 25,000 security personnel in Chhattisgarh.