Nine Maoist cadres were gunned down by the police in Jharkhand in a five-hour encounter in the state’s western Latehar district early on Friday morning. With no policeman getting injured and sophisticated arms seized from the rebels, this was dubbed as the district’s most successful anti-Maoist operation yet. The Barwadih
jungles in the deeply Maoist-penetrated district witnessed an encounter jointly carried by the district police force and the CRPF jawans against a band of about 15 Maoists led by their local area commander, Basant Yadav, camping inside in the midnight. Palamu range DIG Laxman Prasad Singh said the policemen asked the Maoists to come out and surrender but the later started firing and forcing the police to retaliate.
Yadav, a dreaded name in the area, was found to have been killed along with eight others in his ragtag band of Maoists when the encounter ended early in the morning, said Mr Singh. The other six Maoists managed to flee in the night’s darkness in the forest. An SLR gun, an AK-47 gun, five rifles, three country-made guns and live cartridges were seized from the dead ultras’ possession, said Latehar SP Kuldeep Dwivedi. The Jharkhand government plans to award Latehar sub-divisional police officer Ashwini Kumar and seniors in the CRPF team for conducting this encounter.
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Maoist ambush kills ITBP jawan
age correspondent
RAIPUR
Jan. 28: Maoists on Friday ambushed a search party of security personnel in Khumera forest in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district bordering Maharashtra, killing a jawan of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
According to the police, the search team comprising district force, Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) and ITBP personnel was conducting area domination operation inside the forest, when the rebels opened fire on them.
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Maoist camp in C’garh destroyed
AGE CORRESPONDENT
RAIPUR
Jan. 28: Security personnel on Friday destroyed a Maoist camp in a forest in Pakhanjore in Chhattisgarh’s restive Kanker district and seized large cache of explosives, the police said.
Acting on a tip off, a large contingent of BSF and CAF personnel raided a Maoist camp at Katagaon in Pakhanjore forest and smashed it.
“It was a major Maoist camp, where around 40 Naxals were being given arms training,” said police officer Anil Kumar Sonia.