Raipur: Seven jawans of the special task force (STF), the anti-Naxal wing of the Chhattisgarh police, including a platoon commander, were killed on Saturday and 10 others wounded when Maoist guerrillas ambushed a search party of security personnel in the jungles of Pidmela, in south Bastar district of Sukma, in the state. This was one of the worst reverses suffered by the elite STF at the hands of Maoists in Chhattisgarh so far.
The Maoist attack came when the STF party was returning to the base camp at Kanker Lanka.
The slain jawans of the special task force (STF) were conducting search operations in the remote Pidmela area in Chhattisgarh, which falls in the Maoists’ "liberated zone", on Saturday morning.
The lead party in the contingent suffered the most as the guerrillas suddenly opened fire on them from the nearby hilltops.
All the deceased comprised the lead party, a senior police officer posted in Bastar told this newspaper.
The tail of the contingent sprang to action by taking position immediately to repulse the attack. In the ensuing fierce gunbattle that lasted nearly two hours, seven jawans, who comprised the tail of the contingent, were injured.
Later, other jawans in the contingent rescued their colleagues trapped in the ambush and carried the injured and the deceased to Kanker Lanka camp. The search party comprising 68 STF jawans had left Pollampali camp on Friday to undertake operations in the interior Pidmela area.
"Seven STF jawans, including platoon commander Shankar Rao, were killed and 10 others injured in the Naxal attack. The encounter took place around 9-10 am in an interior area between Dornapal and Chintagufa. The injured were airlifted to Raipur (for treatment)," additional director-general of police (Naxal operation) R.K. Vij said.
The deceased have been identified as platoon commander Shankar Rao, head constables Rohit Sori and Manoj Baghel, and constables Mohan, Rajkumar Markam, Kiran Deshmukh and Rajman Tekam.
Intelligence sources said around 200 armed guerrillas carried out the attack on the STF party. Sources said the rebels also looted some arms and ammunitions of the deceased jawans. However, details were still awaited. Chief minister Raman Singh reviewed the situation at a high-level official meeting here in the evening.
Gunbattle lasted nearly 2 hours
The slain jawans of the special task force (STF) were conducting search operations in the remote Pidmela area in Chhattisgarh, which falls in the Maoists’ “liberated zone”, on Saturday morning.
The lead party in the contingent suffered the most as the guerrillas suddenly opened fire on them from the nearby hilltops.
The tail of the contingent sprang to action by taking position immediately to repulse the attack. In the ensuing fierce gunbattle that lasted nearly two hours, seven jawans, who comprised the tail of the contingent, were injured.
Later, other jawans in the contingent rescued their colleagues trapped in the ambush and carried the injured and the deceased to Kanker Lanka camp. The search party comprising 68 STF jawans had left Pollampali camp on Friday to undertake operations in the interior Pidmela area.
“Seven STF jawans, including platoon commander Shankar Rao, were killed and 10 others injured in the Naxal attack. The encounter took place around 9-10 am in an interior area between Dornapal and Chintagufa. The injured were airlifted to Raipur (for treatment),” additional director-general of police (Naxal operation) R.K. Vij said.
