...On one side were the security forces taken prisioner, on the other the Maoists who had participated in the attack on Sandhikharka (9 September). About six Maoists arrived the scene, shook hands with their comrades and with the prisioners and asked, Do you recognise us? All the prisioners said yes. These were the people who had been instrumental in the successful Maoist attack on Sandhikharka. They had said goodbye to the police and army only a week before the attack. The plumbers who worked in the barracks were not just plumbers, but also Maoist spies collecting information about the number and types of weapons at the bases as well as about booby traps that had been set up by the armed forces to defend themselves.

...The security forces had taken adequate precautions-they had listening posts in the surrounding jungles. A patrol had gone out on the day of the attack but were captured by the Maoists, who seized communication equipment. This team had set up a GPMG aimed at the military barrack. The gun was manned by a former RNA soldier who had been court-martialed for selling arms while on a mission in Yugoslavia. The detainees were interrogated and later, with them at gunpoint, the Maoists entered the barracks. By this time attacks had already started and they were able to take out soldiers in trenches who were shooting at the Maoists in another direction. Most of the 17 soldiers dead had gunshot wounds on thier heads... The army is investigating the defeat at Sandhikharka, for which the army captain who abandoned the barracks after the fighting began and a policeman are also being held custody.