Three CRPF men killed, 15 hurt in anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh

Raipur: Three Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) commandos have been killed and over a dozen injured after multiple encounters took place between security forces and Naxals in Chhattisgarh's worst Maoist violence-affected Sukma district.
Officials said while two commandos, identified as constables Linju N. and Fateh Singh had succumbed to their bullet injuries on Thursday, their collegaue Lakshman Singh died on Friday.
At least 15 others, including CoBRA Comamnder P. S. Yadav and the chief of the state polices' District Reserve Group (DRG), have been injured in the encounter which ended early on Friday.
The patrol squad that came under fire on Thursday noon in the jungles of the district, has been brought to the Kistaram police station from the encounter site of Dabbanarka in Sukma early on Friday by multiple Mi-17 helicopter sorties, they said.
Inspector General (Bastar range) S. R. P. Kalluri and Sukma Superintendent of Police D. Shravan are camping at Kistaram, about 500km from the state capital to monitor the operations, they said.
The others who sustained bullet and splinter injuries include Assistant Commandant Yogendra, Sub-Inspector Rajveer Singh, Head constable Santosh, Constable Sona Ram and some men of the DRG.
The encounter began when pesonnel of CRPF's exclusive jungle warfare unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) had the first exchange of fire with Maoists in the jungles of Bastar area.
The CoBRA team encountered multiple ambushes and fire fights beginning 12.30pm on Thursday and while evacuating the area, heavily armed Maoists engaged them in intermittent gunfire, till late in the night.
"The operation is underway to retrieve the injured jawans. Around 600 personnel (of CRPF and state force) have been pressed into service," Chhattisgarh's Special Director General of Police (Anti-Naxal Operations) D. M. Awasthi said.
Another encounter again broke out some distance ahead in the forest, in which more jawans were injured. After the sunset the security forces halted at Kotakpalli village, waiting for reinforcement.
Around 600 personnel (of CRPF and state forces) were rushed to Kotakpalli forests in the early hours on Friday from Konta, Bhejji and Khammam (Telangana) and five MI-17 choppers were also sent to evacuate the injured jawans, Awasthi said.
However, they had to brave firing by Naxals. By 2pm, they managed to bring the stuck CoBRA and DRG personnels with the bodies of three commandos to Kistaram police station.
Six of the jawans were injured critically, said a senior police official based in Sukma. Officials claimed that several Naxals were killed in the encounters, but other rebels took away the bodies.