Chhattisgarh: Mastermind of Ambeli blast among 3 Maoists gunned down in Bastar
The security forces came under attack when they were moving towards the Maoist camp in the forest leading to a fierce gunbattle between them.
Raipur: At least three Maoists, including the mastermind of January six Ambeli Naxal ambush in which eight jawans were killed, were on Saturday gunned down in an encounter with the security forces in a forest in Bijapur district in south Bastar of Chhattisgarh, police said.
The encounter took place in the forest falling under the Indravati National Park at around nine in the morning, police said.
“Bodies of three Naxals have so far been recovered. Search operation still continued at the encounter site”, Bastar range inspector general of police P Sunderraj said.
Acting on the specific intelligence inputs on the presence of armed Naxals in the forest in the Indravati National Park area, a joint search operation comprising jawans of district reserve guard (DRG), special task force (STF) and Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was launched in the area, Bijapur district superintendent of police (SP) Jitendra Kumar Yadav said.
The security forces came under attack when they were moving towards the Maoist camp in the forest leading to a fierce gunbattle between them.
The exchange of fire continued intermittently for a long time, police said.
Later, security forces recovered bodies of three Naxals along with weapons and explosives at the encounter site, south Bastar deputy inspector general of police Kamal Lochan Kashyap said.
One of the three slain Maoists has been identified as Anil Punem, the Local Operation Squad (LOS) commander and area committee member (ACM), Mr. Kashyap said.
The deceased Maoist leader who carried a bounty of Rs five lakh was the alleged mastermind of the killing of eight jawans and the driver of the vehicle, in which they were travelling, at Ambeli in Bijapur district on January six this year.
Maoists blew up the vehicle in which the jawans were travelling at Ambeli in Bijapur district by triggering improvised explosive device (IED) explosion when they were returning to their camp after taking part in the anti-Naxal operation in Abujhmad area in Narayanpur district in south Bastar on the fateful day.
Total 138 Maoists were killed in the state in the current year so far.
Of them, 121 were killed in Bastar during the period.