Jagdalpur: Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel on Monday held a meeting with top officials in Jagdalpur, over the Naxal attack in which 22 security personnel lost their lives.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Shah said, "I want to assure the countrymen that this battle (against Naxals) will be intensified & we will win it in the end. We have successfully set up camps in interior areas in the last few years, which has annoyed Naxals resulting in such type of incidents."
The Gandhinagar MP said," On behalf of PM, & Central govt & the country, I pay tributes to the security personnel who lost their lives in the Naxal attack. The country will always remember their sacrifice for taking the fight against Naxals to a decisive turn."
Shah also attended a wreath-laying ceremony here on Monday to pay homage to 14 security personnel who lost their lives in a gun battle with Naxals in the Bastar region.
"Both Central & state governments are working in tandem on two fronts -- intensify development works in tribal areas & fight against armed groups. I want to assure people of Chhattisgarh & the country that fight against Naxals will be intensified after this incident," he said.
Twenty-two security personnel were killed and 31 others injured in the gunfight with Naxals between Jonaguda and Tekalguda villages along the border of Sukma and Bijapur districts on Saturday.
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The wreath-laying ceremony of other martyred jawans, who belonged to Bijapur district, was held in the Bijapur town where local public representatives and senior officials were present.
It is Shah's first visit to the Bastar region after assuming the charge of Union home minister, an official said.
READ: Anti-Naxal ops to continue, Bijapur encounter not intelligence failure: CM Baghel
Shah will go to Raipur and visit three hospitals where the injured personnel are admitted. Shah will leave for Delhi at 5.30 pm on Monday. The Union home minister on Sunday vowed a befitting response to Naxals and said the battle against the extremists will be won through joint efforts of the central and state governments.
Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPFs) Rakeshwar Singh Manhas from the 3.25 lakh strong paramilitary force's elite CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) unit is still missing, and a search operation is still on to trace him.
There are reports of heavy damage to the Maoists too. The security forces also recovered the body of a woman Maoist commander-- identified as Madavi Vanoja-- along with an Insas rifle, said the CRPF and the state police officials.
READ: Chhattisgarh: 22 security personnel killed in Bijapur Naxal attack
With agency inputs
