Seven Special Task Force personnel were killed in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Saturday
Over 24 hours after seven policemen of the Special Task Force (STF) in Chhattisgarh were killed in an ambush by over 200 Naxals in the Sukma area, security forces today retrieved their bodies. 11 jawans were also injured in the nearly two-hour-long gunbattle on Saturday.
Sources had earlier told NDTV that a back-up team from the Central Reserve Police Force, which arrived a couple of hours after the gunbattle ended, was unable to bring the bodies back as Naxals started firing again. The site of the attack, a forested area, is just eight kilometres away from the nearest CRPF camp. Sources say the team had to return to the camp to work out a strategy to retrieve the bodies.
According to reports, a 60-strong squad of the STF had gone to Pidmel-Polampalli area in Sukma district, bordering Andhra Pradesh, on a search operation following a tip-off over the presence of Naxals. While on their way back around noon, they were reportedly attacked by over 200 heavily-armed ultras in the Dornapal-Chintagufa area.
"Seven brave STF jawans were martyred in the gun battle which went on for roughly two hours in an area which is inaccessible by road and also lacks any communication facilities," said RK Vij, Additional Director General of Police who heads the state's anti-Naxal operations.
But one of the jawans, who was injured, told NDTV that no reinforcements arrived at the spot, adding they had to walk to the nearest CRPF camp.
"I was shot in the waist... somehow, we were able to save ourselves," said Sanjay Lakra, an STF constable, adding, "No back up came."
The injured STF men, who sustained bullet wounds, were later airlifted by two choppers to Jagdalpur and Raipur.