Raipur, Apr 9: Launching a frontal attack ahead of polls in Chhattisgarh, Naxals on Wednesday killed two commandos of CRPF’s CoBRA battalion and injured five other troopers in ambush attacks in two districts of the state.
In the first incident that occurred in Sukma district of the state, Naxals opened heavy fire on a patrol of the specialised anti-Naxal operations force CoBRA that was coming back after escorting a polling party which has reached the Maoist stronghold as part of the polls scheduled on Thursday.
Officials said a strong squad of about 100 Naxals surrounded the party from three sides, leading to the killing of two commandos while three others were injured.
“The troops were hit on the back. They were killed as they received bullet injuries while on their way back,” a senior official said.
The incident comes at a time when the forces are at their maximum alert.
A joint column of CRPF, state police and commandos on a helicopter have been launched in the area, the official said, adding a “cordon and search” operation has been launched.
“We are alive to every possibility and we will conduct the polls peacefully,” a senior security official monitoring the security forces deployment in Delhi said.
Bastar IG Arun Dev Gautam said the incident occurred around 10:30 AM after the Naxals ambushed the commando patrol party which was moving on foot.
In the second incident that occurred in the neighbouring district of Bijapur, Maoists carried out two powerful blasts in the morning hours, injuring two CRPF personnel.
Officials said a patrol squad of the force was on a operational task when two Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts occurred in the forests of Bijapur near Gangloor village.
“The incident occurred when a Road Opening Party (ROP) of the paramilitary was on an operation for election-related security in Gangaloor police station area this morning,” Bijapur Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal told PTI.
“During the operation, the personnel came in contact with a pressure bomb that exploded,” he said.
Inspector Resham Lal and constable Pushpraj of 85 battalion of Central Reserve Police Force were injured in the incident, he said, adding both of them are stated to be out of danger.
The Maoist-hit Bastar constituency of Chhattisgarh is the lone seat going to the polls in the first phase of parliamentary election in the state on Wednesday.
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