The audacity of the Latehar ambush, which ended with Maoists implanting explosive devices inside the corpses of CRPF men, comes amid security forces’ claims that the rebels are a declining force. What was probably the cruellest ever assault on security forces came at a time police in several states were praising themselves for having contained Maoists. Over the last 14 months, Maoist violence had declined partly because they had lost a number of their top cadres (see box) to encounters — and road accidents, illness and even snakebite — and partly because security forces had made significant advances in several regions hitherto considered “liberated”.