A CRPF jawan was killed and five of his colleagues were left injured in a 40-hour-long encounter against the Maoists in the jungles of southern Bihar in which six Maoists were believed to have been killed, the CRPF said on Sunday.
CRPF DIG Umesh Kumar Singh confirmed the death of CoBRA personnel D.N. Chaudhary, who died at a hospital in Gaya. The bodies of the dead Maoists were yet to be recovered, he said. The injured CRPF personnel were admitted at a hospital in Patna on Sunday and are said to be in a stable condition, said officials. Bihar DGP Abhayanand visited the hospital and spoke to them.
The heavy gunfight that began inside the Pachru-khia jungles in Gaya district during a combing operation on Saturday morning continued till Sunday evening, said officials. The operation is likely to continue on Monday and further because, officials said, several units of the leftwing rebels are reportedly camping in the jungles and the interior villages for the past several days.
The current operation is being conducted by the CRPF’s CoBRA unit, the special task force and district police units of Bihar in two districts of Bihar — Gaya and Aurangabad — and Palamu in Jharkhand. Sources said the Maoists triggered cane bomb blasts even as the combing operation by the security forces progressed on Saturday.
As many as 31 of Bihar’s total 38 districts are currently Maoist affected. In Jharkhand, the Maoists are active in 18 of the total 24 districts. Despite the Bihar police claiming a reduction in Maoist activities and violence in the state in recent years, the latest encounter raised fresh concerns in the state.
Dense jungles along the Bihar-Jharkhand borders still remain areas where regular movements of armed Maoist squads are noticed and their meetings are held, said police sources.