Police say that at least three CRPF members were killed and 15 were hurt in a fight with Naxalites on Tuesday along the border between the Sukma and Bijapur districts of Chhattisgarh. The CRPF’s elite jungle warfare unit, CoBRA, was among the dead.
A senior police officer said that two of the dead were from the 201st battalion of the CoBRA and one was from the 150th company of the CRPF.
He also said that the police had heard that at least six Naxalites had been killed in the fight, but he didn’t give any more information.
In the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) is the best unit for fighting in the bush.
Around 2 p.m., the shooting started near the town of Tekalgudem. At the time, a joint team of security staff was out on a search operation, according to Sundarraj P, IGP of Bassar Range.
He said that on Monday, a new camp of security guards was set up in Tekalgudem, which is a Maoist base on the border between districts and is about 450 km from Raipur, the capital.
The Special Task Force, the District Reserve Guard, and CoBRA were searching in the nearby Jonaguda and Aliguda villages after setting up the camp, he said. That’s when the Naxals started fire, and the forces responded.
He said that when the Naxalites saw that the police were focusing on them, they ran away.
“Three people were killed and fifteen were hurt in the incident.” Two of the people who died were from the 201st battalion of Cobra and one was from the 150th company of the CRPF, Sundarraj said.
He said that the hurt soldiers were being taken to a hospital.
Up to 23 police officers were killed when they ran into Naxalites in the same Tekalgudem forest in April 2021.
Sundarraj said that the dead officers were constables Devan C and Pavan Kumar from CoBRA’s 201st battalion and constable Lambghar Sinha from CRPF’s 150th unit.
He also said that everyone hurt was from CoBRA’s 201st company.
Deputy Commandant Lakhveer and Assistant Commandant Rajesh Panchal were two of the 15 people who were hurt. The IG said that of the people who were still hurt, four are head constables and nine are constables.
He said that eight hurt soldiers were flown to Raipur and taken to two hospitals there, while seven others were getting care at a hospital in Jagdalpur, which is the capital of Bastar district. All of them were said to be safe.
Sundarraj said that a search operation is already going on in the area.
Even though 23 security officers were killed in April 2021, he said, they bravely went into the area and set up a camp to help with development work and protect the people who lived there.
“Even with this event, the soldiers’ morale is high.” We’re not going to back down. In the next few days, we’ll fight this battle with more force. “We will give the Naxalites a proper response, and we will keep working to end their control in the area,” the top police officer said.
Sundarraj said that the police knew that at least six Naxalites had died in the fight, but he didn’t say anything else.
There was a Maoist attack, and Chhattisgarh’s chief minister, Vishnu Deo Sai, said he was very sorry about the deaths of three soldiers.
The deputy chief minister, Vijay Sharma, and the chief minister also went to the hospitals to see the soldiers who were hurt.
In a statement, the CM said that new camps for security staff are being set up to improve the area’s safety and give people basic services.
“The Maoists are angry because they are losing ground because security forces are becoming more present in areas that they see as their strongholds,” he said. “That’s why they’re acting in a cowardly way.”
“No matter what, we will always stand with our soldiers.” There will be no stopping our fight against extreme left-wing ideas. “The whole state is with the families of the soldiers who died,” he said.
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