'Inability to recover body indicates seriousness of Sukma naxal attack': Former CRPF DG

Former Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Special Director General N.K. Tripathi on Sunday said that the inability of the security forces to recover the bodies of the slain jawans from the battle-zone indicates the 'seriousness' of the Sukma encounter with the Naxals, adding that bad weather was also a factor in the same.

"The seriousness of the encounter between security forces and Naxals in the Sukma district can be assessed from the fact that we are not yet able to retrieve the bodies of the slain jawans from the region. Seven of our soldiers were killed in this incident including one platoon commander: their bodies are still there," Tripathi told ANI.

"I have spoken to a few officers there... the weather there is bad because of which the bodies could not be recovered. The army is also involved in this, and the moment the weather conditions improve we will recover the bodies," he added.

Earlier on Saturday, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had expressed concern after seven Special Task Force (STF) jawans were killed in Pidmel forest in Sukma district during a gun battle with the naxals.

The encounter took place when a team of STF was out on a search operation.