Malkangiri: Police and Maoists exchanged fire at Daldali forest in Tulasi hill area under Mathili police limits along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border in Malkangiri district Wednesday evening.
The Maoists managed to give the cops a slip after the encounter. However, the authorities seized a huge cache of articles and material used by the ultras.
Addressing a press conference, Malkangiri SP Rishikesh Khiladi said that the Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel and district police, acting on a tip-off about the presence of the Maoists in Daldali forest, had carried out a combing operation in the area for two days. The Maoists opened fire while the police resorted to retaliatory fire.
While the miscreants managed to escape from the spot, the security personnel located a Maoist camp inside the forest which was later destroyed, informed Malkangiri SP.
The security personnel later began a search operation in the forest and busted a camp and seized several articles including some explosive devices, solar kits, Mao literature, food stuff and uniforms.
After the seizure of these articles, the search operation in the area has been intensified, the SP added.
Notably, the secretary of the Malkangiri-Koraput-Visakha Divisional Committee (MKVDC) Kailash in an audio tape released to the media April 5 had announced that there will be no attacks on security forces in view of the fast spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
PNN
