Raipur: A six-month-old child was on Monday killed after being caught in the crossfire between security forces and Maoists in a jungle in Bijapur district under Bastar in Chhattisgarh, police said.
Two jawans of district reserve group (DRG) were injured in the encounter with the Maoists in the same area.
The encounter took place in Mutbandi forest under Gangalur police station limits at around six in the evening, police said.
Acting on intelligence inputs on the presence of Chandanna, secretary of Bhairamgarh area committee of outlawed CPI (Maoist), and his cadres in Mutbandi forest, a search operation was launched by a DRG team in the area, leading to an encounter between them, Bastar range inspector general of police P Sunderraj told this newspaper.
Two DRG jawans were injured in the incident, he said.
A six-month-old girl was killed after being caught in the crossfire between the Maoists and security forces, he added.
Her mother, who was carrying the toddler when the incident took place, received bullet injuries in her hand.
She was taken to the nearby hospital by the security forces for treatment.
She was later discharged from the hospital after being given medical treatment, police said.
Police claimed that the Maoist leader Chandanna and a member of the Bhairamgarh area committee, Mangli, were injured in the incident.
However, they managed to flee into the forest.
A combing operation has been launched by a joint search party comprising personnel of DRG and CRPF in the area, Mr Sunderraj said.
