The cross-firing resulted in deaths of two CRPF jawans and left 14 injured.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans, who were injured during a gun battle with the Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Sukma District yesterday, were brought to a hospital here on Friday.
CRPF's CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) battalion personnel were trapped in violence-affected forests of Sukma for over 18 hours, after they were ambushed in the jungles of Dabbanarka. The encounter resulted in deaths of two CRPF jawans and left 14 injured.
According to reports, as many as three rescue teams were rushed to get the ambushed CoBRA team to hospital. The difficult terrain of the area makes it difficult for the chopper to land and rescue the injured men.
Officials said while two commandos, identified as constables Linju N and Fateh Singh had succumbed to their bullet injuries on Thursday, their colleague Lakshman Singh died yesterday. At least 15 others, including CoBRA Comamnder P S Yadav and the chief of the state polices' District Reserve Group (DRG), have been injured in the encounter which ended early today.
The patrol squad that came under fire on noon in the jungles of the district, has been brought to the Kistaram police station from the encounter site of Dabbanarka in Sukma early today by multiple Mi-17 helicopter sorties, they said.
Inspector General (Bastar range) SRP Kalluri and Sukma Superintendent of Police D Shravan are camping at Kistaram, about 500 kms from the state capital to monitor the operations, they said. The others who sustained bullet and splinter injuries include Assistant Commandant Yogendra, Sub-Inspector Rajveer Singh, Head constable Santosh, Constable Sona Ram and some men of the DRG.
The encounter began when personnel of CRPF's exclusive jungle warfare unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) had the first exchange of fire with Maoists in the jungles of Bastar area. The CoBRA team encountered multiple ambushes and fire fights beginning 12.30 PM yesterday and while evacuating the area, heavily armed Maoists engaged them in intermittent gunfire, till late in the night.
With ANI/PTI inputs.
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