As many as five security personnel were killed and at least 12 others injured in an exchange of fire with Naxals at a forest in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday.
Some Maoists are also suspected to have been killed during the encounter, which is still underway, the police have said.
Security personnel from CRPF’s elite CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) unit, the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) were out on an anti-Maoist operation when the encounter broke out.
“The encounter broke out in Tarrem area (along Sukma and Bijapur border) when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-Naxal (Maoist) operation,” Chhattisgarh Director General of Police DM Awasthi said.
More details are awaited.
This comes days after five police personnel were killed and 14 injured after Maoists targeted a bus carrying 27 DRG (District Reserve Guard) troops in Chhattisgarh’s Naryanpur district.
The bus, which had been travelling from Kadenar to Kanhargaon, was hit by an IED (improvised explosive device).
On Thursday, meanwhile, three Maoists involved in planting explosives to target the security forces were arrested from Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district.
