Naxal gunned down in Chhattisgarh

Raipur: A naxal on Sunday was gunned down in an exchange of fire with security forces in Maoist-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, police said. "The face-off between ultras and a composite squad of District Reserve Group and Special Task Force took place in the forest axis of Misiguda and Bendre villages in Jagargunda police station area," Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police, Santosh Singh, told PTI.

While patrolling through the forests, a team spotted a group of ultras following which an encounter broke out between both the sides, he said. The intermittent firing lasted for several hours after which naxals fled from the spot, Singh said.

Later, during search, body of a naxal, clad in 'uniform', was recovered from the spot besides two country-made weapons, its rounds, naxal bags, medicines and naxal literature, he said.

Blood stains found at the spot suggest that several ultras were either injured or killed but their colleagues managed to drag them inside the deep forests, he said. Once the security forces arrive at their camps, identity of the killed naxal will be ascertained, the officer said.

For the last two days, several teams of security forces comprising personnel of different CRPF battalions, its elite CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) unit and state forces, were carrying out anti-naxal operations in Sukma based on specific intelligence inputs, the ASP added.