Maoists ambushed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) teams in different parts of south Chhattisgarh on Friday injuring 10 Jawans and also opened fire on the helicopter rescuing the injured Jawans.
“The Maoists fired on a joint team of district police and the COBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) of the CRPF near Chintagufa village in Sukma district, injuring two district policemen and three COBRA Jawans.
“A chopper was rushed to the spot to rescue the injured, but the Maoists fired indiscriminately on the chopper injuring two more Jawans,” Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Singh said.
CRPF Inspector General H.S.Sidhu was also a part of the team that came under fire from the Maoists.
“The Chopper managed to evacuate the injured personnel despite the firing. The injured included Sub- Inspector Vipin Kumar and an Indian Air Force (IAF) person. All seven were admitted to a hospital in Jagdalpur,” added Mr..Singh.
The additional SP expressed a possibility of some Maoists being injured in the encounter.
Bijapur blast
In another incident, three security personnel were injured in an explosion in Bijapur district of South Chhattisgarh.
“A team of bomb disposal and detection squad was defusing a bomb planted by the Maoists near Basaguda village of Bijapur when the explosion took place. CRPF inspector Gurvindar Singh and two constables were injured in the explosion,” Bijapur SP K.L. Dhruw told The Hindu.
All three personnel injured in the Bijapur blast are said to be stable, but two out of the seven security personnel injured in Sukma district are reported to be critical.
The Chintagufa area of Sukma district has been witnessing intensified anti-Maoist operations over the last few days with a large number of security personnel combing the forest.
