CRPF turns heat on Maoists, nine killed in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR - Nine Maoists were Tuesday killed in a fierce gun battle with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in a forested pocket of the rebels’ stronghold Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, police said.

The killings were reported from Jagargunda area of Dantewada district. The casualty site is located over 500 km south from here.

“It’s a big success. CRPF’s 111th battalion fought bravely with over 150 heavily armed Maoists. We have recovered bodies of all the nine rebels with their weapons,” Dantewada’s Senior Superintendent of Police S.R.P. Kalluri told IANS over phone.

A senior CRPF official posted in Dantewada said on condition of anonymity that the gun battle began when rebels opened fire on a strong contingent of the paramilitary force which was on patrolling from early morning.

“This time, we stunned them (Maoists). The personnel put the rebels’ squad under heavy firing for nearly an hour. We successfully hunted nine of them. I believe many more received gun shots and probably were taken inside the forests,” the officer informed.

The CRPF recovered many arms and explosives from the site. Senior CRPF officials and state police officers have rushed to the site which is not less than 200 km from Dantewada town - headquarters of India’s worst insurgency-hit district.

For the paramilitary force, which has been put under repeated attacks in the sprawling 40,000 sq km mineral-rich, restive Bastar region, Tuesday’s success is considered a big morale booster.

Maoists had been up against the CRPF in Bastar, mainly in Danteweda. They had killed 76 security personnel, including 75 of the CRPF, in a single attack in April this year.