12 CRPF men die, 4 hurt in C’garh Naxal ambush

Naxals loot AK-47s, Insas rifles

Raipur: Twelve CRPF personnel were killed on Saturday and their arms looted when Naxals ambushed their patrol party in the Maoist hotbed of Sukma in Chhattisgarh. Four others were also injured in the attack and two of them are said to be critical. PM Narendra Modi took stock of the situation and spoke to the home minister, who will be travelling to Sukma. Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh also condemned the attack.

Maoists killed 12 CRPF jawans on Saturday after drawing them into a deadly ambush near Kokacherru, a forested village in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar district of Sukma. This was one of the biggest attacks on security forces in the past one year.

The ultras triggered improvised explosive devices (IEDs), targeting a road opening party of security personnel and then opened indiscriminate fire on them when they walked into their ambush, leading to death of 12 CRPF jawans and injuries to two others, a senior district police officer told this newspaper.

“Nine jawans were killed in the very first round of firing by rebels,” Bastar range inspector general of police P. Sunder Raj said.

The incident took place at around 9 am, when 112 personnel of the CRPF’s 219th battalion, part of a road clearing party, was securing an under-construction road between Bhejji and Kokacherru in the district, Mr Raj said.

The Naxals looted ten weapons, including Insas assault rifles and AK-47s, as well as two radio sets from the deceased troopers, a CRPF officer said.

Those killed included inspector Jagatjit Singh, ASIs H.B. Bhatt and Narendra Kumar Singh, head constables Jagdish Prasad Bishnoi and P.R. Minde and constables Mangesh Pal Pandey, Ram Pal Singh Yadav, Goraknath, Nand Kumar Patra, Satish Kumar Verma, K. Shankar and Suresh Kumar.