Sukma (Chhattisgarh): Naxalites on Wednesday fired at a CRPF commando team alighting from a helicopter at a remote camp in Chhattisgarh during a massive anti-Naxal operation being undertaken by security forces along the state's border with Telangana, officials said.
A joint team of multiple forces are undertaking the offensive to target some senior and most-wanted Naxal commanders, official sources said. "A CRPF CoBRA team was being sent on a chopper to a forward operating base that is located along the Bijapur and Sukma districts of Chhattisgarh abutting the Telangana border. An exchange of fire took place between the commandos and Naxalites when they were alighting from the helicopter. The Naxalites had to flee," the CRPF (Raipur sector) said in a statement issued late evening in the state capital Raipur.
There has been no harm to the CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) commandos even as the forces are trying to ascertain the damage inflicted on the Naxalites, the statement said.
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The operation that was launched along the inter-state borders of Sukma district in Chhattisgarh has been going on since noon, the officials said. Multiple units of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its jungle warfare commando unit CoBRA, Chhattisgarh Police and Greyhounds of the Telangana state police are engaged in the operation, they said.
The forces have been mobilised on the basis of some specific intelligence inputs and their target is the tri-junction of Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Odisha which is located right at the southern tip of Sukma district in the south Bastar region, they said.
A top Naxal commander named Hidma with a reward of Rs 45 lakh on him along with his armed cadres is understood to have been engaged by the forces. However, an official confirmation is awaited. The forces are aided by helicopters, special forces commandos, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and global positioning data.
Chhattisgarh Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj Pattilingam said in a statement that all the troops are safe and details will be shared once the operation concludes.
