Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Police killed 18 Maoists in a fierce gun fight that occurred in the Chote Bethiya area of Kanker district of Bastar division on Tuesday.
On the concrete intelligence inputs of the presence of top Maoist leaders such as Shankar, Sarita, Raju and others, a joint team of security forces composed of BSF, DRG and CASF were dispatched to carry out combing operations on Tuesday. They were carrying out patrol in the jungles of Binagunda under Beriya police station limits of Kanker district of Bastar division, the joint team of security forces were attacked by armed Naxals, Bastar police said in a statement.
In defence, the security forces also retaliated and the gunfight continued for an hour. The Naxals escaped deep into the jungles when they found security forces were falling heavy on their strength, said one senior level police officer.
The Bastar police sent backup parties to rescue and provide additional support to the jawans. However, in the fierce encounter, one inspector and two jawans were hit by the bullets. During the search, the police recovered 18 dead bodies of the armed Naxals, IG Bastar Sundarraj told the media on Tuesday.
In the encounter, three jawans injured are referred to higher medical care. Reinforcement parties are dispatched to help the jawans in rescue and search operations. From the site of the encounter a huge cache of arms, ammunition were recovered including AK 47, SLR, guns and others. Soon, more information will be shared, he added.
