Bargarh/Paikamal: At least two Maoists, one of them a woman, were killed in an encounter with security forces at Salepali near the foothills of Gandhamardan under Paikamal police limits in Bargarh district late Tuesday night, police said Wednesday.
“Two Maoists were killed in an encounter with security forces at Salepali in the Paikmal police station area of Bargarh district. Combing operations are on,” Director General of Police R.P. Sharma said in a tweet.
The police launched a combing operation late Tuesday night following a tip-off that a number of Maoists were present in the forest. During the operation the rebels opened fire at the security forces who retaliated killing two of the ultras on the spot, the police said.
The success came when an Intelligence input alerted the police about the presence of 12 ultras at Salepali. Acting on the input, a police team from Paikamal rushed to the spot and the ultras opened fire on seeing them. The police team withdrew as the ultras were more in numbers. The police later regrouped with CRPF and DVF teams at Kermelabahal, Bartunda and Paikamal camps and reached the spot again.
The dead ultras are yet to be identified but the bodies recovered had Maoist fatigues on them. They were suspected to be cadres of the Bargarh-Bolangir Mahasamund division of CPI (Maoists), Inspector General of Police (IG-North) Susant Kumar Nath said at a press meet held at the Paikamal police station Wednesday. A case was registered in this connection and a post-mortem was conducted on the bodies at Padmapur Sub-Divisional Hospital.
One SLR rifle, one .303 rifle, 43 rounds of SLR bullets, 39 rounds of .303 bullets, a .303 rifle magazine, knives, Rs 20,000 in Rs 100 denomination, photographs of some Maoist cadres, Maoist literature, torch, nail cutter, mobile phone, staplers, pins, screw driver, black thread, tooth paste, tooth brush, comb, belt and two bags were seized from the slain ultras. PNN