The 12 policemen who went missing after a gunfight with the Maoist guerrillas on Thursday in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district have been shot dead by the rebels, a senior police official said on Friday.
"Missing cops had been killed but their bodies have not been recovered by the police. Search teams led by Dantewada District Superintendent of Police Rahul Sharma are still inside the forest area where the bodies are lying," Chhattisgarh Inspector General (Maoist operation), Girdhari Nayak told IANS by phone.
A local news channel showed footage of bullet-ridden bodies of the policemen who went missing after armed cadres of the banned outfit, Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) opened indiscriminate fire on a 33-member police team on Thursday in Taragura under Konta block, around 500 km south of capital Raipur.
All but 12 members of the police team returned in two batches safely after the gunfight by late Thursday night. The deceased cops comprised eight Special Armed Forces (SAF) personnel and four from the District Force (DF).
"We hope to recover the bodies by the early hours of on Saturday. The task is difficult because the forest area has been cordoned off by the rebels using landmines," Nayak said.
{{/usCountry}}"We hope to recover the bodies by the early hours of on Saturday. The task is difficult because the forest area has been cordoned off by the rebels using landmines," Nayak said.
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