Bhopal: Three jawans were on Friday injured and two Maoists including gunwoman of hardcore Naxal Papa Rao killed in two separate encounters in insurgency-hit south Bastar in Chhattisgarh.
A senior police officer posted in Bastar told this newspaper that Papa Rao, said to be mastermind of several major operations against security forces in Bastar in the past one decade including 2010 massacre of 76 CRPF personnel in Dantewada district, had managed to escape after a search party of special task force cordoned off his team at Ampuram in Bijapur district bordering Telangana, leading to a fierce encounter between them.
“A search party of STF raided a Naxal camp in Ampuram, a village bordering Telangana, following intelligence inputs on presence of Papa Rao along with his team there,” the senior police officer said. Papa Rao, is known to be a key military strategist functioning under Dandakaranya special zonal committee of CPM.
In another incident, three jawans were injured in a landmine explosion triggered by Maoists in Gonguda in south Bastar district of Sukma. An encounter ensued between them and one Naxal is said to be killed.
