Sukma attack: Maoist’s body recovered from site of ambush

The body of a Maoist has been recovered from the site where 25 CRPF personnel were killed earlier this week in an ambush by the rebels in Burkapal area of Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district.

“The body of a Maoist was recovered on Thursday night from the forest, just 500 metres away from the spot where the gun battle had taken place between the CRPF and the rebels on April 24,” Special Director General of Police (anti-Maoist operations) DM Awasthi said.

Acting on reports of the movement of Maoists in the area after the ambush, the security forces were carrying out the combing operations, he said.

While cordoning off a forested patch in Burkapal area on Thursday night, the patrolling team recovered the body of the Maoist who is reported to have been killed in the ambush, Awasthi said. The body was yet to be identified, he said.

Following the ambush, there were reports of several casualties among the Maoist’s group in the gunfight but the rebels managed to drag the bodies inside the forest. The search operation is under way in the interiors of the region to trace the ultras involved in the incident, the senior police officer said.

On April 24, 25 CRPF personnel were killed and seven others injured when the Maoists attacked a patrol party of 74th battalion of the paramilitary force near Burkapal village of Sukma, around 450 kms away from Raipur.

Besides, 12 men of the paramilitary force were killed in an earlier attack near Bheji village in the same district on March 11.

The CRPF is set to overhaul its anti-Maoist operations in the south Bastar in the aftermath of one of the biggest attacks on the force in the state on Monday and a fresh offensive is expected to be launched soon.