New Delhi: A search operation is underway Sunday to trace 18 security personnel who went missing after a fierce gun battle with Naxals in a forest along the border of Bijapur-Sukma districts in Chhattisgarh, police said.
At least five security personnel were killed and 30 others injured in the three-hour-long encounter took place Saturday afternoon near Jonaguda village which falls under Jagargunda police station area in Sukma.
The injured are stated to be out of danger, and a fresh Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) has been launched by a joint team of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and state police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) as well as the Special Task Force (STF) personnel.
“Following the gunfight, at least 18 security personnel were untraceable. Various police teams have been searching for them in the forest,” a senior police official posted in Bastar said Sunday morning. He also said “chances of their survival are slim, but we are hopeful of finding them alive”.
“We had to stop Saturday’s operation temporarily because of the night. We have so far lost two CRPF and three DRG personnel and all injured are now out of danger,” CRPF IG (Operations) CG Arora told IANS.
Of the two CRPF personnel, who lost their lives in the Saturday gun battle with Maoists, Arora said one belongs to the Central Armed Police Force’s elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) and the other was from its Bastaria Battalion.
It was a joint anti-Maoist operation conducted by the CRPF’s CoBRA unit, the DRG and the STF of state police.
The operation continued for more than nine hours and additional security forces had to be pressed to the spot to support the personnel engaged in the exchange of fire.
“It was a dense forested area where the incident took place. This is the core Maoist area. This is an interior place inside the jungle where access is very limited. Helicopter support was also provided to the party,” Arora said.
Expressing condolence over the death of security personnel in the operation, Union Home Minister Amit Shah Sunday said that “fight against enemies of peace will continue”.
Shah spoke to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Sunday and took stock of the situation following the killing of five security personnel in an encounter with Naxals in the state, officials said. Shah also directed Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Kuldiep Singh to visit Chhattisgarh to asses the situation.
The chief minister is believed to have briefed the home minister about the steps taken by the state government after the incident, another official said.
“I bow to the sacrifices of our brave security personnel martyred while fighting Maoists in Chhattisgarh. Nation will never forget their valour. My condolences are with their families. We will continue our fight against these enemies of peace & progress. May injured recover soon,” Shah tweeted.
At least two Maoists’ bodies were also visible on the spot near the Tekulgudem village under Tarrem police station where the shootout began at noon on Saturday in a deep forested interior area with a group of over 300 Maoists. There are reports of heavy damage to the Maoists.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Saturday expressed deep sorrow over the deaths of the five security personnel.
Expressing condolences to the families of the slain security personnel, Baghel had said, “The martyrdom of the security forces will not go in vain. Our soldiers have also done great harm to the Maoists. Security forces will campaign against Maoists even more rapidly.”
The Chief Minister later directed to provide better treatment facilities to the injured.
March 23, five personnel of the District Reserve Guard were killed and several were injured in an IED blast — the first major Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh this year — in what the police said was a Maoist strike targeting a bus carrying more than 20 security personnel.
The security personnel were travelling as part of an anti-Maoist operation in the dense Abujhmad forests when the blast occurred at around 4.15 p.m., on the Kanhargaon-Kadenar road.
Meanwhile, five Maoists, one of them allegedly involved in the killing of four policemen after abducting them in 2015, were arrested last month from two places in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district.
PNN & Agencies