Centre deploys two CoBRA battalions in Manipur to intensify anti-violence operations

The Centre has approved deployment of two CRPF CoBRA battalions in Manipur to conduct operations against armed groups amid ongoing ethnic tensions. The move aims to strengthen security efforts as authorities work to restore lasting peace in the violence-hit state

New Delhi: The Centre has ordered deployment of two battalions of the CRPF’s jungle warfare unit CoBRA for operational duties in Manipur, official sources said on Sunday.

The state administration and the Union government have been working to bring long-lasting peace in Manipur as more than 260 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups since May 2023.

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Officials told PTI that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved a proposal of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to deploy two CoBRA battalions in Manipur– battalion no 207 based in West Bengal and 210 located in Assam– for operational duties.

“The two CoBRA battalions will undertake specific operations against the armed groups that undertake violence in Manipur,” an senior security officer said, adding the earmarked units will move in the state over the next few weeks.

The Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was raised by the CRPF in 2008-09 to tackle the menace of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) that was raging in multiple Indian states apart from insurgency in certain states of the north east.

CoBRA has a total of ten battalions at present and they are mostly deployed in the anti-Naxal operations theatre. Each CoBRA battalion has a strength of about 1,000 commandos.

The commandos of this battalion are credited by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) with undertaking successful intelligence-based jungle warfare and guerilla tactics operations against Naxals leading to the end of Maoist violence from the country this March.

Officials said that with the operations in the LWE theatre now being reduced to seeking and destroying hidden improvised explosive devices (IEDs) apart from general security of the area, it was planned by the CRPF to move two CoBRA units to Manipur where restoration of complete peace is a task in a “work in progress.”

“There are other CoBRA and CRPF units that can serve the Naxal violence hit areas post the end of armed Naxalism in the country. “One or two CoBRA units may also move to Jammu and Kashmir for full fledged operations once a final decision is taken,” a second officer said.