Raipur: A commando of the CRPF’s jungle warfare unit CoBRA was killed in an encounter with Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Friday, a police official said.
The skirmish took place in Palachalma forest under Kistaram police station limits when a team of the 208th battalion of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was out on an anti-naxal operation, Sukma superintendent of police Sunil Sharma said.
When the patrolling team was cordoning off the forest, located over 450 km, the exchange of fire broke out between the two sides, the SP said.
“Constable Virendra Singh, belonging to CoBRA’s 208th battalion, suffered bullet injury on his chest and was shifted to the CRPF’s field hospital in Kistaram. Preparation was being made to airlift him to Raipur for further treatment but he succumbed,” Sharma added.
Sukma falls in the state’s south Bastar region where the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its CoBRA units are extensively deployed for anti-Maoist operations.