Two jawans killed, five hurt in Naxal ambush in Sukma

Bhopal: Two jawans were killed and five others injured on Saturday when Maoists ambushed a joint search party of security personnel in Tondamarka forest under Chintagufa police station in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar district of Sukma.

Sources said a massive counterinsurgency operation, ‘Operation Prahar’, involving commandos of special task force (STF), DRG, CRPF and CoBRA (commando battalion for resolute action) was launched following a tip-off on the presence of the Maoists’ first battalion in the region. A senior police officer posted in Bastar told this newspaper that dreaded Maoist Hidma who commanded the battallion was also camping in the forest.

Maoists ambushed the search party in the Tondamarka forest leading to a fierce gun battle between that began around 10am and continued till the last reports came. “This was the first time the operation of such massive scale against Naxals was launched in the region where the first battalion of the Maoists was said to have been deployed. Five jawans of STF were injured in the incident. They have been evacuated from the encounter site and airlifted to Raipur for treatment. We have information that 15-20 Naxals have either been killed or injured in the incident,” director general of police (Naxal operation), of Chhattisgarh, D.M. Awasthi said.

The police said the body of a Naxal was recovered at the encounter site along with a self-loaded rifle. Two jawans of DRG were killed when they were attacked by Maoists while retreating, the Bastar Police said. Meanwhile, one Naxal was killed in an encounter with security forces in south Bastar district of Bijapur.