Maoists opened indiscriminate fire near the camp of Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) killing five personnel and decamped with their weapons near the forested area of Jharaghati in Narayanpur district, south Chhattisgarh on Thursday morning.
“Maoists attacked the jawans at the camp at around 5.30am killing four policemen. One succumbed to injury later. The forces in the camp immediately took positions and swiftly retaliated the attack following which the rebels fled”, Narayanpur superintendent of police Mayank Shrivastava told Hindustan Times.
All the deceased belonged to 16th battalion of CAF based near Jharaghati about 280 km south of Raipur. There were around 120 personnel in the camp. The police sources informed that the attackers were over fifty who fled from the area taking away weapons of the policemen killed in the attack.
The Bastar inspector general of police T J Longkumer told HT that there are toilet facilities in the camp but owing to large strength of the forces and besides the jawans hailing from the rural background are habituated, they continue to go to the field to relieve themselves.
“We have been strictly advising them not to follow this practice”, he said.
{{/usCountry}}“We have been strictly advising them not to follow this practice”, he said.
{{/usCountry}}The rebel attack is seen an attempt to discourage stationing of CAF temporary base camp in the area which came up barely a month ago. Jharaghati happens to be located in the Maoists stronghold and seen as a gateway to Abhujhmad, where the army has recently began its training in the art of jungle warfare.
The guerillas felt strongly embittered over the decision of setting up an army training facility in the forested plateau of Abhujhmad in Narayanpur. The attack site is barely 30 km from the district headquarter of Narayanpur.
Additional forces were rushed to the site and the search operation cautiously carried out as the forces remained extra-vigilant to avoid any ambush or booby trap.
Narayanpur in south Chhattisgarh is among the worst-affected districts of Bastar hit by the Maoists violence.
Maoist attacks on security forces in the last 24 days
May 17: Kill five CRPF jawans in Dantewada
May 19: Shoot a police constable and abduct a special police officer (SPO) in Bijapur district. The SPO is later killed.
May 24: Kill nine policemen in bordering forested terrain of Sunabeda, Orissa
June 2: Kill one policeman in a marketplace in Dantewada
June 9: Kill five cops in Narayanpur district