Maoists open fire near CRPF camps in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR - Maoist guerrillas opened fire near at least five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camps in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district simultaneously Tuesday night, a police officer said. No casualties were reported.

“Armed Maoists backed by Sangham (village-level cadres) members fired at areas near five CRPF camps. It seems the firing was intended to provoke the troopers,” Dantewada’s Superintendent of Police Amresh Mishra told IANS over telephone.

He said that firing was reported at CRPF camps located in Chintagufa, Errabore, Pollampalli, Bhejji and Kankerlanka - all in Dantewada district. Mishra described it as “a very minor incident” and said that no casualties were reported.

All the sites are nearly 500 km from state capital Raipur.

Mishra added that the CRPF troopers had returned fire and the Maoists had fled into nearby hilly areas. The CRPF has stepped up night patrolling in and around all the camps in the restive Bastar region in the wake of the firing.

Maoists had killed 75 CRPF troopers and a Chhattisgarh policeman in Dantewada April 6 in the worst ever attack on security forces.

Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, made up of Dantewada, Bastar, Bijapur, Narayanpur and Kanker districts, is spread over 40,000 sq km and has been a Maoist stronghold since the late 1980s.