Forces breach Naxal-den Abujhmad for first time
■ Encounter video surfaces on social media
A day after 29 Maoists, including two commanders, were gunned down in an encounter with security forces in a forest in Kanker district under Bastar in Chhattisgarh, a video of the incident surfaced on Wednesday.
The 7.08-minute-long video clip has captured the jawans advancing towards the Maoists’ camp in Hapatola jungle under the Chhotebetiya police station while exchanging fire with the Naxals.
The jawans were seen taking cover behind the trees in the jungle from time to time not to get hit by bullets fired by the Maoists before scaling a small mound where the Naxals had taken position.
“Don’t advance hurriedly,
◗ SOURCES DISCLOSED to this newspaper that one of the jawans who took part in the search operation in Hapatola jungle may have taken the video and circulated it on social media network sites
take cover behind the trees... The forces in the back must not fire, don’t get too close (to Maoists),” a voice in the purported video can be heard saying.
The encounter site resembled a war zone, field with bullets seen flying and hitting the trees.
Sources disclosed to this newspaper that one of the jawans who took part in the search operation in Hapatola jungle may have taken the video and circulated it on social media network sites.
“We are verifying the authenticity of the video. But, the area captured in the video resembles the encounter site,” a senior police officer of Bastar told this newspaper, unwilling to be quoted.
Sources said that acting on specific intelligence inputs that around 40-50 Maoists, lead by the commander of North Bastar Division of Maoists Shankar Rao, had been camping in Hapatola jungle, a joint party comprising personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the District Reserve Guard (DRG) launched a search operation in the area.
The Naxals had barely finished their lunch when security forces surrounded them and appealed to them to surrender.
However, the Maoists opened fire, leading to a fierce gunbattle between them in which 29 rebels were killed and three jawans, including a BSF inspector, injured.