5 Naxals killed in Bastar encounter
Encounter took place in the forested village of Dhurbeda
Bhopal: Five Naxals were on Saturday gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Maoist-stronghold Abujhmad in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar district of Narayanpur. Two jawans of district reserve group (DRG) were also injured in the incident.
Five Naxals were on Saturday gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Maoist-stronghold Abujhmad in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar district of Narayanpur.
Two jawans of district reserve group (DRG), an exclusive tribal force of the Chhattisgarh police specialised in counterinsurgency, were injured in the incident.
The encounter took place in the forested village of Dhurbeda, nearly 19 km from Orcha, when a search party comprising DRG personnel was ambushed by rebels, leading to a fierce gun battle between them that lasted nearly one hour, a senior police officer of Bastar said.
Later, ultras fled the area.
Security forces later recovered bodies of five Maoists and a huge cache of weapons including 303 rifles, 12 bore guns and explosives at the encounter site, Bastar range inspector general of police Vivekanand Sinha told this newspaper. Details of weapons recovered and identification of slain Maoists could be known after the combat party returned to their camp, he added.
Acting on specific intelligence inputs on Maoists running a training camp in the village, the search party was dispatched to the area late on Friday night.
The combat party was closing in on the Maoist camp when they were attacked by the ultras, the police officer said. “It was a significant development since the counterinsurgency operation was carried out in the core area of Maoist-stronghold Abujhmad”, Mr Sinha pointed out.
Abujhmad, a 4,000 sq km area extending from Bastar in Chhattisgarh to Gadchhiroli in Maharashtra, is considered capital of outlawed CPI (Maoist).
Abujhmad is the only region in the country which is yet to be mapped by government of India.
Abujhmad, a 4,000 sq km area extending from Bastar to Gadchhiroli in Maharashtra, is considered capital of CPI (Maoist)