10 CoBRA units with over 12,000 personnel were raised under the CRPF in 2009 for undertaking intelligence-based jungle warfare operations.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has stated that Naxalism, currently confined to just four districts in India, will be completely eradicated by March 31, 2026. He emphasized the crucial role of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), particularly its CoBRA battalion, in achieving this goal. Shah lauded the CRPF's contributions to national security, highlighting their efforts in combating terrorism in Kashmir, maintaining peace in the Northeast, and significantly reducing Naxal violence. He also paid tribute to the CRPF's sacrifices, acknowledging the loss of 2,264 personnel in the line of duty.
Nearly 500 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Combat Battalion for Resolute Action, engaged in anti-Maoist operations in West Midnapore district, were the first to reach the site where a Maharashtra-bound express train derailed on Friday morning, killing 68 passengers.A CRPF spokesman told reporters that personnel of the 165 CRPF battalion posted at Maoist-affected Manikpara, close to the accident spot, arrived at 2 am and were the first rescuers.
The much anticipated full-fledged operation of the special anti-Naxal force -- Cobrain Left-wing extremism-hit states is set to start soon.
The anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam led by its self-styled army chief Paresh Barua on Thursday issued a statement threatening to train its gun on 'Indians living in Assam' in retaliation to the 'atrocities perpetrated on innocent Assamese people by the COBRA Force of colonial India' in Tinsukia district of eastern Assam in the name of operation against the ULFA militants.
The Communist Party of India-Maoist has in a three-page letter taken responsibility for the Dantewada attack that killed 76 Central Reserve Police Force and Combat Battalion for Resolute Action commandos on Tuesday.
The clearance to raise the 10,000-strong Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (COBRA), under the command and control of the Central Reserve Police Force, was given last evening by the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by the prime minister.
They said the IED blast took place in the Chintalnar forest area of the district around 9 pm on Saturday and the injured personnel were evacuated by a Mi-17 V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force around midnight.
He was a decorated officer as he won combat competitions and participated in all-India police commando duty meets.
The majority of CoBRA teams, whose commandos are expected to have tough mental and physical attributes, are deployed in various Maoist violence affected states while a few are based in the northeastern states for undertaking counter-insurgency operations.
Manhas went missing after the April 3 gunfight between Naxals and security personnel near Sukma-Bijapur border.
A sub-inspector of the Andhra Pradesh's counter-Maoist force was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award of the country, as India celebrated its 65th Republic Day on Sunday.
Six Army personnel including Col Santosh Babu, Nb Sub Nuduram Soren, Hav K Palani, Hav Tejinder Singh, Nk Deepak Singh and Sep Gurtej Singh, who lost their lives in the Galwan valley clash, have been awarded Chakra series wartime gallantry medals posthumously.
A CoBRA company has about 100 personnel each.
In an unusual case of 'mass bunking' being confronted by the Central Reserve Police Force, 59 trainee commandos of its elite jungle warfare and counter-Naxal squad Commando Battalion for Resolute Action have gone missing from a train just before they were to report for duty in the Left Wing Extremism-hit theatre of Bihar as part of their first deployment.
Very few today realise that without Brigadier John Dalvi's courage, we would never have known what really happened during those tragic days of October/November 1962, reveals Claude Arpi.
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