Basaguda encounter: Naxals injure two police personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district

Raipur: Two police personnel were Sunday injured in an encounter with Naxals in the insurgency-hit Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, police said. The encounter took place around 10.30 am when a joint team of security forces was carrying out an anti-Maoist operation in the forests of Basaguda police station area, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Dantewada region) Sundarraj P told PTI. [caption id=“attachment_3444598” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “A DRG head constable Raju Kodmul and an assistant constable of district police Suresh Madkam were injured in the incident,” he said. Joint teams of Special Task Force (STF), District Reserve Guard (DRG), CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) and district police were out on the operation based on inputs about the location of Maoist hideouts in Basaguda and Awapalli police area, around 450 kms away from the state capital Raipur, of Bijapur since Saturday. When a team of CoBRA and DRG was advancing through the forests of Raigundam village on the border of Bijapur and Sukma districts, armed Naxals opened indiscriminate firing on them, leading to a gun-battle between both the sides, the DIG said. However, rebels soon fled from the spot on finding the security personnel zeroing on them, he added. “As per the injured jawans, after spotting that a couple of Naxals were hit by bullets in the exchange of fire, they were trying to retrieve their bodies. In the process, they came under fire by a back-up support group of Naxals leaving two of the jawans injured,” the DIG said. In the meanwhile, the ultras managed to drag the body of their colleagues inside the forest taking advantage of the thick vegetation, the official. “While Kodmul received bullet injury in his abdomen, Madkam sustained a superficial injury on his leg,” he said. Soon after getting the information, Mi-17 chopper was sent to evacuate the injured personnel, the DIG said, adding that they were airlifted to Raipur, where they have been admitted to a private hospital. The counter–insurgency operation was still underway in the region, the DIG.