On Tuesday, three personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), two of them commandos of the elite jungle warfare unit CoBRA, were killed and 15 injured in an encounter with Communists along the boundary of Sukma and Bijapur districts of Chhattisgarh.
“Three personnel were killed and 15 others were injured, all from CRPF. Of the deceased, two belonged to the COBRA’s (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) 201st battalion, and one from the CRPF’S 151st battalion. The injured have been airlifted to hospitals in Raipur after helicopters were pressed into service, and their condition is stable,” Bastar inspector general of police Sunderaj P said.
Six Communists were killed in the retaliatory fire. The shoot-out happened on the first day of a newly established security camp in Teklagudem village.
“After setting up the camp, personnel belonging to the Chhattisgarh Police’s special task force, district reserve guard, and CRPF were securing the perimeter and carrying out a search in the villages of Jonaguda and Aliguda nearby, when Maoists opened fire,” the IGP said.
The attackers were over 500 in number, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said in the evening. The CM spoke to some of the injured jawans hospitalised in Raipur. Some accounts had pegged the number at even 1,000, Sai added.
