Four policemen killed, 9 injured in Maoist attack

BASTAR/RAIPUR: Four security personnel were killed and nine others injured in an encounter in Narayanpur district on Wednesday.

The injured include two subinspector rank officers of the District Reserve Guard ( DRG), who were in a search operation. The DRG is a unit of the state police and its personnel are mostly surrendered Maoists.

The incident took place at Irpanar under Orchha police station of Narayanpur district of Bastar region, about 250km from Raipur.

Police said all the injured were airlifted to Raipur and the condition of two is serious.

DM Awasthi, special director general of police (anti-naxal operations), confirmed t he deaths and said that additional forces have been deployed to search the area. Combing operations were also on.

Senior police officers of Bastar rushed to the spot after the incident.

Sources said the encounter took place inside the Abhujmad jungles, which is a core area of Maoists in Bastar and most of its part is still liberated.

“The Maoists were more than 300 in number and the team of DRG was comparatively small. The terrains were also very difficult in that region,” said a source in intelligence.

Sources said that some personnel were still stuck in the jungles until late in the evening following the attack and attempts were made to evacuate them from the encounter spot.

After the Burkapal attack in April 2017 in which 25 CRPF jawans were killed, this is the biggest setback for security forces fighting in Bastar.

Meanwhile, in another incident in Bijapur district, two state police jawans were injured in an IED explosion. “The condition of one is reported to be critical,” SP Bijapur, MR Ahire, told Hindustan Times.