Police jawan killed, another hurt in Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh

A police jawan was on Friday killed and another injured after Naxals ambushed a team of security personnel who were deployed on a helipad in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Bijapur district.

A group of Maoists opened fire on jawans guarding the helipad in a restive pocket of Pamed police station area, located around 500 km away from the state capital Raipur, Bijapur Superintendent of Police KL Dhruv said.

Security forces were tasked with ensuring security to the helipad ahead of the landing of a helicopter meant to transport ration for them. After dropping the consignment, the chopper returned and security forces began marching back to its base, he said.

“Meanwhile, a group of Maoists opened indiscriminate firing on them from behind leaving two constables- Baburam Markam belonging to the district force and Dinesh Ogre of Chhattisgarh Armed Force -- injured. However, rebels fled from the spot as security forces launched the retaliatory attack on them,” he added.

Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured were admitted to a local hospital, he added. “While Markam succumbed to his injuries during the treatment, Ogre was airlifted to Raipur for treatment,” he said.

Meanwhile, security forces have launched a combing operation in the region to trace the attackers, the SP added.