According to Media Report: Today, after eight years of fighting, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has modern weapons, including GPMGs, LMGs, SMGs, SLRs, and rocket launchers. When the Maoists initiated armed struggle in 1996 they had no people's army, no trained fighting forces and no experience in military warfare. They started off with only small "fighting groups." After six months the first squad was formed and after several months there were 32 squads (of seven to nine guerrillas). When I interviewed the Central Committee member in charge of the Maoist strongholds in the Rolpa, Rukum and Jajarkot districts, he told me, "Sometimes the squads had to retreat when the police came into a village where the squad lived. But when the police left, the squads returned and the village would be back in the political and military control of the People's Army. There were many ambushes of police, going from smaller to larger actions and also many raids of police posts and mining of roads where police were traveling. Some were successful, some not, due to lack of experience. We were learning warfare through waging warfare." Again, these were impressive beginnings but still on a very small scale. The Maoists had squads and platoons (with 24-30 fighters) but had not yet formed any company-size units (of about 100 guerrillas). By 2002 the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had several permanent companies, and in some cases was fighting in units of brigade strength--several hundred soldiers. Today the PLA has expanded to the level of two divisions, seven brigades, 19 battalions, several companies, platoons, sections and tens of thousands of militia. And they are able to mobilize thousands of fighters in a single battle. When I was in Nepal, the Maoists were also only in the beginning stages of establishing political authority and organization in the villages. In the countryside there were "guerrilla zones" where fighting was going on. But the guerrillas had only just begun a campaign to establish "base areas" that would serve as embryos of "red political power." Less than three years later, by the end of 2002, 10 million people in the Western Region--out of Nepal's total population of 24 million--lived in areas under Maoist control. And "United Revolutionary People's Committees" were exercising power, mobilizing the masses to administer production, the supply of basic necessities, education, sanitation, communications, transportation and the establishment of a judicial system. 40,000 hard core gurillas Maoist Red Army (most of them 10 years of battle experienced). 15,000 Milita local, village and zone. Maoist forces include core engineers, doctors and medical personal, communication, supply and manufacturing. Maoist established operation and action center inside kathmandu, Pokhara, Nepalganj, Chitawan, Biratnagar, Jhapa and Ilam.