Kerala Thunderbolts is an elite commando force of the

Kerala Police The Kerala Police is the law enforcement agency for the Indian state of Kerala. Kerala Police has its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. The motto of the force is "Mridhu Bhave Dhrida Kruthye" which means "Soft in Temperamen ...

set up in accordance with the Indian central government's directions post the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of Terrorism, terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from P ...

. The commando force has been created to counter possible terror strikes and carry out counterinsurgency operations in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. The force modeled on the

Special Protection Group The Special Protection Group (SPG) is an agency of the Government of India whose sole responsibility is protecting the Prime Minister of India and in some cases, his or her family. It was formed in 1988 by an Act of the Parliament of India. The ...

and

National Security Guard The National Security Guard (NSG), commonly known as Black Cats, is a counter-terrorism unit of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It was founded on 16 October 1984, following Operation Blue Star, for combating terrorist activities and p ...

are trained to engage in air, water and land attacks.

Known operations

A Thunderbolt team carried out a combing operation in the

Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of including the surrounding suburban areas. The first municipality in the district formed in 1970, Malappuram serves as the administrative headquarter ...

district following reports of sighting of Maoist insurgents in February, 2013. In March 2013, a 30-member Thunderbolt team was involved in a counterinsurgency combing operation in search of suspected Maoist insurgents in

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...

district in Kerala. On 6 December 2014, A gunfight broke out in a forest in Kerala's hilly

Wayanad Wayanad () is a district in the north-east of Indian state Kerala with administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern ...

district between the Thunderbolt unit and the left-wing rebels (Maoist). It was the first direct encounter between police and Maoists in the history of Kerala and no casualties were reported.

Selection and training

The commando force consists of 2 companies of 160 personnel, who have been recruited after undergoing 2 years of rigorous and specialized training at various institutions around the country including Army's Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School, Mizoram. Ex-Chief minister

Oommen Chandy Oommen Chandy, , (born 31 October 1943) is an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for two terms, from 2004 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2016. He was also Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative ...

, announced the approval of the Central Government for raising a second battalion of 40 more personnel, in the wake of increased terrorist activity across India. The recruits, in the 18–21 age group, were selected after going through the Three Star physical Efficiency Test and Endurance test, as specified by the

Kerala Public Service Commission The Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) is a body created by the Constitution of India to select applicants for civil service jobs in the Indian state of Kerala according to the merits of the applicants and the rules of reservation. The Hea ...

. The second stage training was completed at Commando School,

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, National Disaster Management School,

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

, Counter insurgency and Anti Terrorism School,

Silchar Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is located south east of Guwahati. It was founded by Captain Thomas Fisher in 1832 when he shifted the headquarters of Cachar to Janiganj in Silchar. ...

, National Adventure School,

Munnar Munnar () is a town and hill station in the Idukki district of the southwestern Indian state of Kerala. Munnar is situated at around above mean sea level, in the Western Ghats mountain range. Munnar is also called the "Kashmir of South Indi ...

, Underwater Operation and Diving school,

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

and Airborne Operation Air force School,

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

References

{{reflist

External links

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9g5TIgSwLc – in Malayalam Non-military counterterrorist organizations Kerala Police 2012 establishments in Kerala Government agencies established in 2012

Known operations

Selection and training

See also

References

External links