Cuttack, Feb. 22: If the ongoing combing operations against Naxalites haven’t yielded much success, it is because the Satkosia wildlife sanctuary in Orissa has become a veritable corridor to the south for Maoists.

The Nayagarh attack is the result of an expanding “red” corridor and proves that the dense forests are being used more frequently.

Intelligence reports, though late, believe that rebels entrenched in Rairakhol and Deogarh forests entered Satkosia from Angul and moved under the dense forest cover to Nayagarh-Daspalla region via Narsinghpur in Cuttack district.

The Sidhanala bridge connecting Narsinghpur with Kantilo apparently provides a gateway to Gania forests. The rebels who carried out simultaneous attacks in Nayagarh moved through this route and later separated into two groups — one heading to Nayagarh and the other to Daspalla.

Later, the two groups dispersed into smaller ones.

A special operations group officer said the route up to Nayagarh via Satkosia is a matter of serious concern, as it also “creates a clear corridor” from Rairakhol forest to Nayagarh forest.

If rebels are not tackled effectively, Satkosia can become a veritable corridor to the south for the rebels from both Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and vice versa, the officer said.

Sources believe that Naxalites had already created a corridor from Andhra Pradesh till Bhanjanagar via dense forests through Rayagada, Tumudibandh, R. Udaygiri, Kotpad, Tikabali and Kalingaghati.

The Satkosia sanctuary, through which the Mahanadi meanders, is spread over 800km of overlapping forests and hills and encompasses Angul, Cuttack, Nayagarh and Boudh. It is home for Gond tribals, who reside in and around the sanctuary area.

Rebels are slowly making their presence felt all over Orissa. They made their presence felt in Dhenkanal where three forest division employees were killed on January 31, 2007. On June 22, 2007, they indicated their presence in Deogarh when they hacked three persons to death after dragging them out of their houses and tying them up. A contractor was also killed in a similar fashion around the same time.

After remaining confined to Sundargarh, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj, the rebels over the past couple of years have enlarged their operation area to include Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Deogarh Dhenkanal and Angul — by creating a corridor from Saranda forest of Jharkhand to Rairakhol forest in Orissa.

Director-general of police G.C. Nanda said: “We are careful and keeping a watch. Elaborate arrangements are on to check their movement.”