Naxalites kill 5 securitymen in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, September 4: Five security personnel, including three CRPF jawans, were killed and five were injured on Thursday in a Naxalite attack in the forests near village Chunchuna Pundagh, close to the inter-state border with Jharkhand, in Sarguja district of North Chhattisgarh.


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The incident took place in the afternoon when Inspector General of Police (Sarguja Range) B S Maravi was on his way to a village, where the Maoists had killed a former rebel who had surrendered recently. Initial reports suggest that the Naxals triggered a landmine blast, targeting the senior police officer but it hit his escort vehicle.

However, Director General of Police Vishwaranjan said the rebels ambushed the police and CRPF personnel, who were patrolling the area and started firing indiscriminately at the security personnel.

Police patrol was intensified in the area following information that Naxalites had been moving around in the region. "In fact the security personnel had defused a powerful landmine just before the firing began. The encounter continued for about two and a half hours," said the DGP.

As the incident took place in a remote location where communication facilities were not available and just two kilometers away from Jharkhand border, the police are yet to ascertain the exact number of casualties and the identity of the victims.

Police spokesman Raj Kumar Dewangan said IG B S Maravi and other officials were camping at Samri police station area and a helicopter has been sent to airlift injured security personnel to the district headquarters at Sarguja.