Four Naxals killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, March 26: In Chhattisgarh, four Naxals were gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Sukma district today. Deputy Inspector General (anti-Naxal operations) Sundarraj P said the encounter took place around 6 in the morning in a forest in the Chintalnar police station area. He said, an elite unit of the CRPF was cordoning off the forest area near Karkanguda village, when a group of Naxals started firing on them, leading to a gun-battle.

 

Anti-Naxal operations have been intensified in the forests of Bastar division in view of the Lok Sabha elections.

Recently, A CRPF Jawan was martyred and six others were injured in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district Monday evening, police said. The attack took place at around 5 pm when a team of CRPF's 231st battalion was on an area domination operation from its Kamal post towards Kondapara village under the Aranapur police station area, Deputy Inspector General (anti- Naxal operations) Sundarraj P said.

When the patrolling team was advancing through the forest just 200 meters away from the post, a group of armed rebels triggered an IED blast and opened indiscriminate firing on them, setting off a gun-battle, he said.

However, the Naxals fled when CRPF jawans launched a fierce retaliatory action, the IPS officer said.

"Head constable Shashikant Tiwari was killed, while six others - head constable Praveen Kumar Singh, constables Sumit Kumar, M Harikrishna, Jitendra Singh Tomar, Muthu Krishnan and Pandav Kumar, sustained injuries in the attack," Sundarraj added.

On being alerted about the attack, reinforcement was rushed to the spot, 400 km from the state capital Raipur, he added.

The injured personnel, one of them said to be critical, were airlifted to Raipur and admitted to hospitals here, he said.