Security forces, Naxals exchange fire in Chhattisgarh

A brief encounter took place between security forces and Naxals in Chhattisgarhs Narayanpur district on Monday, but no casualty was reported from either side, a police official said.

The gun-fight took place at around 11 am near Jhori village under the Dhanora police station area when a joint team of security forces was out on a search-cum-area domination operation, Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI.

The combine squad of District Reserve Guard (DRG), Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and district police had launched the operation based on inputs about the movement of Naxalites near Jhori to carry out a major attack before the Independence day, he said.

When the patrolling team was cordoning off the forest near the village, located around 350km from the state capital, they found that ultras had blocked the road there using fallen trees and put up banners on them, he said.

After sensing that Naxals had laid a trap by planting multiple command IEDs (improvised explosive devices) across the road to target them, security forces followed tactical movement, he said.

Meanwhile, ultras who were hiding in the forests, triggered IED blasts and opened firing on the security forces, leading to the gun-battle.

However, after an exchange of fire that lasted for about 10 minutes, Naxals fled into dense forests, he added.

"No harm was reported to the security personnel in the incident," Garg said, adding the search operation was still underway in the area to trace ultras.