22 jawans got martyred and 31 got injured after deadly encounter with Naxals in Chattisgarh
New Delhi, April 4
The Chattisgarh Police, CRPF and it's Cobra teams, in a joint operation, killed 15 naxals and 22 left injured. 22 jawans have got martyred and 31 received injuries during the deadly encounter with the naxals in Bijapur and Sukma districts of Chattisgarh.
The Chattisgarh police stated that personnel belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) jointly launched the operation against Naxals from five places – Tarrem, Usoor and Pamed (Bijapur) and Minpa and Narsapuram (Sukma).
The officials stated that separate joint teams of security forces, over 2,000 in number, had launched a major anti-Naxal operation from Bijapur and Sukma districts in the South Bastar forests, considered as the Maoist stronghold on April 2.
On April 3 afternoon, an encounter broke out between the patrolling team that was dispatched from Tarrem and ultras belonging PLGA (Peoples’ Liberation Guerilla Army) battalion of Maoists near Jonaguda village under Jagargunda police station area (in Sukma), officials added.
The CRPF and Chattisgarh Police were on high alert since a week after they had received information about Naxal commander Hidma was seen around Bijapur who is suspected to be involved in the gruesome attack. 100-120 Maoist cadres of PLGA Battalion number-1 led by Hidma was recently spotted camping at the border areas of Bijapur. Hidma is top naxal commander and carries a reward of Rs 25 lakh on his name, officials said.
As per the officials, the naxal leader Hidma had led many major operations against the security forces in Bastar. He is also suspected to be behind the March 2017 attack in Sukma district of Chattisgarh in which 25 CRPF personnel were martyred.
Director-General, CRPF, Kuldiep Singh reached Chhattisgarh this morning to take stock of the situation. CRPF ADG (HQ) Zulfiqar Hassan and IG (Operations) Nalin Prabhat are also on the ground in Chhattisgarh.
Chhattisgarh Director General of Police (DGP) DM Awasthi and CRPF DG Kuldiep Singh confirmed that the dead bodies of 22 jawans have been recovered.
The ambush was similar to the one carried out by Naxals in Tadmetla in 2010 and Minapa in 2020.
