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 Maoists along the boundary of Sukma and Bijapur districts in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday. Six Maoists were killed in the retaliatory fire, the police said.
The shoot-out happened on the first day of a newly established security camp in Teklagudem village, a Maoist stronghold about 450 km from capital Raipur. The attackers were over 500 in number, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said in the evening. He spoke to some of the injured jawans hospitalised in Raipur. Some accounts had pegged the number at even 1,000, the Chief Minister added.
Inspector-General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P. said after the camp was set up, a joint team of the Special Task Force, the District Reserve Guard [both components of the State police], the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), and the CRPF was patrolling in nearby villages when Maoists opened fire on them.
“All the jawans gave a befitting reply and we have received information of six Maoists cadre getting killed but unfortunately, in this encounter, our three jawans — two CoBRA jawans and one CRPF jawan — were martyred. Fifteen were injured too,” he said.
The Maoists retreated into the forests following the retaliatory fire by the security personnel. Search operations were on till late in the evening, the police added.
The deceased were identified as constables Devan C. and Pavan Kumar (both from 201 CoBRA) and constable Lambdhar Sinha (150 CRPF). Among the injured are a Deputy Commandant, an Assistant Commandant, four head constables, and nine constables.
Mr. Sundarraj said the injured personnel were taken to the Jagdalpur Medical College and two private hospitals in Raipur. They were out of danger, he said.
Twenty-three security personnel were killed in an encounter with Maoists in the same area in April 2021. In 2023, nearly two dozen security personnel were killed by Maoists and almost the same number of Maoists were killed by the security forces. During a recent visit to Chhattisgarh – one of the hotbeds of left-wing extremism – Union Home Minister Amit Shah had set a three-year deadline for eliminating Naxalism in the country.
Since August 2023, at least nine new security camps have also come up in the conflict zone of Bastar.
Mr. Sundarraj said the new camp had been established for the security of the people and that the attack would not deter the police.
Expressing solidarity with the security personnel, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said areas perceived as sympathetic to Maoists were now witnessing increased deployment and effectiveness of security forces. This, he said, led to “a disarray among the Naxals and they were resorting to cowardly acts of terror”.
