Twenty-two Indian security forces personnel were killed, 30 others injured, and one was reported missing in a gun battle with Maoist rebels in a central Indian state, in the deadliest ambush of its kind in four years. Bijapur’s superintendent of police Kamalochan Kashyap confirmed the toll, local media reported.
Security personnel belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force’s elite CoBRA unit, the District Reserve Guard, and the Special Task Force were attacked on Saturday in the tribal-dominated Chhattisgarh state during an anti-insurgency operation, Officials said to the media on Sunday.
“We can confirm that 22 of Indian force members have been killed by Maoist fighters,” said a senior government official in Raipur, the capital of mineral-rich Chhattisgarh, local media reported.
The injured personnel were admitted to two government-run hospitals in Bijapur and Chhattisgarh’s capital city Raipur.
More than a dozen others remained missing, Chhattisgarh police’s Additional Director General Ashok Juneja said, adding that an unknown number of Maoists were also killed in the encounter.
Juneja said the rebels looted weapons, ammunition, uniforms and shoes from the security forces who were killed.
The death toll could rise further, another senior police officer in Bijapur district told AFP.
They were killed in firing that lasted for four hours in the border district of Sukma, 540km (340 miles) south of Raipur, according to local media.
The death toll was the worst for Indian security forces battling the far-left guerrillas since 2017.
“My thoughts are with the families of those martyred while fighting Maoists in Chhattisgarh. The sacrifices of the brave martyrs will never be forgotten. May the injured recover at the earliest”, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel wrote on Facebook Sunday:
There has been detailed discussion with Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah ji regarding the Naxalite incident in Bijapur.
During this time in Bijapur, the encounter between the security forces and the Naxals of the state and the center was informed about the ground situation.
The loss to security forces in the encounter is tragic. But the security forces have high courage and we will win this fight against Naxalite violence.
The Union Home Minister has said that the central government and the state government will win this battle together. He said that any necessary help from the central government will be given to the state government.
At the same time he has directed the CRPF Director General to visit the event site.
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