At least three security personnel were killed and 14 others injured in a Naxal attack at Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur-Sukma border on Tuesday. According to officials, the personnel were patrolling in Sukma district when they came under fire.
To keep a check on Naxal activity, a new security camp was established today in Tekalgudem, a village on Bijapur-Sukma border, to benefit the people of the area with basic facilities. After the establishment of the camp, Maoists opened fire on the CoBRA/STF/DRG force while they were conducting anti-naxal operations in Jonaguda-Aliguda area. After the encounter, the Maoists fled taking cover in the forest.
Earlier this month, security forces had set up two police camps in the district, considered a core Naxal area, deep inside the forest. On Republic Day, the Indian Tricolour was hoisted for the first time in the Sukma-Bijapur area.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently chaired a review meeting with all stakeholders in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur on Left Wing Extremism (LWE), where he said the Maoist menace should end in the next three years.
Security personnel have been besieged with several attacks over the past months. During the state’s two-phase polls in December, members of the banned CPI (Maoist) had killed two security personnel and seriously injured another in three separate attacks using an improvised explosive device (IED), while the personnel were ferrying a polling party to a booth ahead of voting.
Bastar police had said that between the announcement of the election and three days after voting ended, the region saw 10 exchanges of gunfire and eight IED blasts. Six civilians were killed and 42 IEDs were recovered.
