Chhattisgarh encounter: Three security personnel are dead.
Three security personnel were killed and 14 others were injured in a gunfight with Maoists near the Bijapur-Sukma border in Chhattisgarh today when they were working to establish a security camp. The injured personnel are being taken to Raipur, nearly 400 km from Sukma, for treatment.
The security camp was established in Tekulagudem village in the Sukma district to provide the people of the area with basic facilities and keep a check on Maoist activities. After setting up the camp, the District Reserve Guard, CoBRA battalion and Special Task Force were patrolling the area when they were fired at by the Maoists. The security forces retaliated which forced the Maoists to flee and took cover in the forest.
In 2021, 22 jawans were killed in a gunfight between police and the Maoists in the Tekulagudem forest.
"Despite the huge loss we suffered in the Tekulagudem encounter in 2021, we established a camp in the village for the peace, security, and development of the area", said Sunderraj P, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range.
In one of the deadliest ambushes of its kind, some 2,000 security personnel were on the hunt for a Maoist rebel leader in the Bijapur district in April 2021, when some of them were attacked. About 400 to 750 trained Maoists surrounded the jawans from three sides and rained on them machine-gun fire as well as explosives for several hours, officials had said. The survivors were rescued with helicopters in the evening.
The rebels looted weapons, ammunition, uniforms, and shoes from the security forces who were killed. Around 28-30 rebels were also killed in the encounter, according to the CRPF.
The Maoists - who say they are fighting for rural people and the poor - have battled government forces across eastern India since the 1960s. Thousands have been killed in the fighting.
Chhattisgarh is one of the worst-hit states by Maoism. The Maoists have set up their bases in the forest and hilly regions of the state. They refer to the areas as "liberated from the government's rule".
The Bastar region comprising districts like Dantewada, Sukma and Bijapur up to Narayanpur and Kondagaon and Kanker district further north is the last bastion and corridor where Maoists have some strength and can spring surprises against the security forces and the administration.