Naxals ambush, kill 3 of CoBRA force

At least three jawans of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), the elite anti-Naxal wing of the CRPF, were killed and 13 others injured in a 24-hour-long gun-battle between security forces and left-wing extremists in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar district of Sukma that ended on Friday morning.

The encounter, that began in the forest of Dabbamarka under the Kistaram police following the ambush by guerrillas on a joint search party comprising personnel of the 208th CoBRA battalion and district reserve group in mid-noon on Thursday, ended on Friday morning when reinforcements rushed to the spot to rescue the trapped jawans and evacuate the injured ones.

“The gunfight continued whole Thursday night. The rebels fled the spot when a 700-strong contingent of reinforcements rushed to the spot to rescue the trapped jawans,” a senior police officer posted in Bastar told this newspaper on Friday. The injured were evacuated to Kistaram police station, nearly 15 km from the encounter site, and later airlifted to Raipur for treatment.

“Three jawans of 208th CoBRA battalion were killed and 13 others injured in the incident,” CRPF inspector-general of police Sadanand Ratre said.

Those killed have been identified as Fateh Singh, N.S. Lanju and Laxman Kurti.

The search party had gone to the Dabbamarka forest for a counter-insurgency operation following intelligence inputs on gathering of some senior Maoist leaders in the area, a senior police officer said.

“Three companies of the first battalion of Maoists carried out the attack on the search party. Naxal leaders Hidma and Nagesh were leading the attack,” intelligence sources said.

While the injured jawans claimed to have gunned down at least a dozen Naxals, the body of Maoist was recovered at the encounter site.