12 Maoists gunned down in Jharkhand

Twelve Maoists, including a top "commander", were today gunned down by police and CRPF in an encounter in Palamu district in Jharkhand.

The gunbattle took place at around 1 AM in Bakoria village, about 140 km from Ranchi . "All the bodies have been recovered," Superintendent of Police Mayur Patel said.

A top Maoist "zonal commander" identified as RK alias Anurag alias doctor and two other sub-zonal committee members of armed Naxal groups operating in and around the state have been killed. "It is a great success for us," CRPF Director General Prakash Mishra told PTI.

Anurag was the main suspect in the rigging of the body of a slain CRPF jawan with an Improvised Explosive Device in Latehar district of the state in 2013, he said.

A cache of some 8-10 "sophisticated weapons" has also been seized after the encounter, Mishra said.

Acting on intelligence inputs that Maoists were moving in the district, CRPF's elite CoBRA battalion and the district police rushed to the area. On seeing the security personnel, the Maoists got down from a vehicle and started firing on them, Additional Director General of Police (Operation) S N Pradhan said.

In the retaliatory action, 12 rebels were gunned down, he added.

The Maoists were moving in two vehicles. While one vehicle sped away, the naxalites from the other vehicle got down and opened fire on the police, Pradhan said.

"It was the dasta (firing squad) of CPI (Maoist) 'zonal commander' RK," the police officer said.

Mishra, who is going to Jharkhand to take stock of the situation, said, "The teams that hit the Maoist squad today were working on some intelligence leads and they tactically moved in the area and executed the operation. It was good coordination between the state police and CRPF."

This is the first major incident in Jharkhand after Maoists had ambushed a police vehicle in Dumka on April 20 last year when the police party was returning after completion of the third phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Eight persons, including six policemen, were killed by the Maoists in that incident.