Security forces destroy Maoist camp after face-off in C'garh

Security forces destroyed a Maoist camp after a gun battle with ultras on Monday in Chattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district, a senior official said.

The encounter took place in the morning on a forested hill near Pugda village when some joint teams of various security forces were out on an anti-Naxal operation, Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap said.

On getting a tip-off about presence of a dozen Naxals at their camp on the hill between Pugda and Korcha villages, various joint squads of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) and local police launched the operation, he said.

When one of the patrolling teams was advancing through a forest in Pugda, the rebels fired at them from the hill, forcing the security men to retaliate, he said.

After heavy firing from both the sides for a brief period, Maoists escaped into the dense forest, Kashyap said, adding that there was no casualty among the security personnel.

Later, the security forces demolished the Maoist camp and recovered a claymore mine (explosive), utensils, camping material and a huge cache of daily use items from there, he said.

Search operation was still underway in the area, he added.