Four BSF personnel killed, two injured in encounter with Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district

Four Border Security Forces (BSF) jawans were killed on Thursday during an encounter between security forces and Maoists in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh. Two BSF personnel were also injured in the encounter. Earlier ANI quoted DIGP Anti Naxal Operation P Sundarraj as saying, “One jawan of the 114 battalion of BSF died while two others sustained injuries in an encounter that broke out between the security forces and Naxals.”

#UPDATE : 4 BSF jawans have lost their lives in an encounter with Maoists in Kanker, Chhattisgarh https://t.co/zs8K25iF87

— ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2019

Further details of the ongoing encounter are awaited. On 21 March, Maoists blew up a civilian vehicle using an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, injuring nine people. The incident had occurred when the victims were headed towards Dantewada district in an SUV to visit a fair. Police said the Maoists may have mistakenly attacked the civilian vehicle even as they were planning to target security forces. In a Maoist attack on 18 March, a CRPF jawan was killed and six others were injured in Dantewada district. The attack had taken place at around 5 pm when a team of CRPF’s 231st battalion were on an area domination operation from its Kamal post towards Kondapara village under the Aranapur police station area. Deputy Inspector General (anti-Naxal operations) Sundarraj P had told PTI, “When the patrolling team was advancing through the forest just 200 metres away from the post, a group of armed rebels triggered an IED blast and opened indiscriminate firing on them, setting off a gun-battle. “However, the Naxals fled when CRPF jawans launched a fierce retaliatory action,” the IPS officer said. With inputs from PTI