Chhattisgarh: Kanker encounter video surfaces, security forces breach Naxal-den Abujhmad for first time
Raipur: A day after 29 Maoists including two Naxal commanders were gunned down in an encounter with security forces in a forest in Kanker district under Bastar in Chhattisgarh, a video of the incident on Wednesday surfaced.
The 7.08-minute-long video clip has captured the jawans advancing towards the Maoists’ camp in Hapatola jungle under Chhotebetiya police station while exchanging fire with the Naxals.
The jawans were seen taking cover behind the trees in the jungle from time to time not to get hit by bullets fired by Maoists before scaling a small mound where the Naxals had taken position.
“Don’t advance hurriedly....take cover behind the trees.....the forces in the back must not fire... don’t get too close (to Maoists”), a voice in the purported video was heard saying.
The encounter site resembled a war field with bullets seen flying and hitting the trees.
Sources disclosed to this newspaper that one of the jawans who took part in the search operation in Hapatola jungle may have taken the video and circulated it in social media network sites.
“We are verifying the authenticity of the video. But, the area captured in the video resembles the encounter site”, a senior police officer of Bastar told this newspaper, unwilling to be quoted.
Sources said that acting on specific intelligence inputs that around 40-50 Maoists lead by the commander of North Bastar Division of Maoists Shankar Rao had been camping in Hapatola jungle, a joint party comprising personnel of Border Security Force (BSF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) launched a search operation in the area.
The Naxls had barely finished their lunch when security forces surrounded them and appealed to them to surrender.
However, the Maoists opened fire on the security personnel, leading to a fierce gun battle between them in which 29 rebels were killed and three jawans, including a Border Security Force (BSF) inspector, injured.
As many as 22 weapons including five Ak 47 assault rifles, INSAS and Self-Loading Rifles and huge quantities of explosives were recovered at the encounter site, police said.
It was the biggest ever casualty suffered by Maoists in Bastar in one encounter , so far.
Tuesday’s counterinsurgency operation in Hapatola jungle is viewed in the security circles as significant since it had taken place at the strategic place, a tri-junction of Narayanpur and Kanker districts under Bastar in Chhattisgarh and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.
“Security forces have for the first time breached Abujhmad, a 4,000 sq km area extending from Bastar in Chhattisgarh to Gadchiroli in Maharashtra '', a senior police officer of Bastar said.
Abujhmad, the only patch in the country that has remained un-surveyed till date, is also considered a safe haven for Maoists.
