Five security men killed in Chhattisgarh Maoist attack

RAIPUR - Five security personnel were killed by Maoists Sunday in a gunfight that broke out in Chhattisgarh’s restive Bastar region, police said.

“Maoists ambushed a police patrolling party drawn from the Border Security Force (BSF), District Force (DF) and Special Police Officers (SPOs) in a thickly-forested area,” Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) T.J. Longkumer told IANS over phone from Jagdalpur, headquarters of Bastar region.

“Two BSF men, two DF personnel and an SPO were killed,” he added.

He said the gun battle took place in Bhuski village in Kanker district, 250 km from capital Raipur, when Maoists ambushed the troopers, leading to a gunfight.

“It was a major ambush but our jawans fought bravely and fiercely…Maoists were in large numbers and estimated to be over 100. The details of the sequence of events can be obtained only when our troopers return to base,” Longkumer said.

Chhattisgarh has been the epicentre of Maoist violence in recent years. The Bastar region, spread across about 40,000 sq km area and comprising Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar and Kanker districts, is considered the nerve centre of Maoist militants in India.

Officials at the police headquarters here said that the state has witnessed 1,948 Maoist attacks in the past three years. A total of 418 civilians and 435 policemen, including 75 SPOs, have been killed in Maoist violence.