Major attack foiled in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur; around 50 armed Naxals planned to ambush security forces

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Narayanpur: A major Naxal attack on security forces was foiled on Sunday in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district. Around 50 armed Naxals had planned to attack the security forces near Raynar Batumpara area in Narayanpur today, however, their attempt was foiled by a joint team of police and armed forces.

Upon receiving information about Naxals’ plan, a joint team of District Reserve Guard, Chhattisgarh Armed Force, and Police launched a search operation in the area.

“On the basis of intelligence inputs that around 40 to 50 armed Naxals near Raynar Batumpara area are planning to attack security forces, a joint team of District Reserve Guard, Chhattisgarh Armed Force and Police was formed for search operation,” Mohit Garg, Narayanpur superintendent of police was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

When Naxals noticed the search operation team, they opened fire at them, leading to a fierce gunbattle, the police official added.

“When the Naxals saw the police team they blasted two IEDs and also began firing. Following this, the search team also retaliated. However, Naxals manage to flee the scene due to heavy rainfall and dense forest,” Garg said, adding,  no security personnel or civilian suffered injury in the exchange of fire.

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Earlier on Saturday, seven Naxals, including three women, were gunned down by the security forces in an encounter in state’s Bastar district.

The gunbattle took place when a joint team of District Reserve Guard and Special Task Force (STF) of Chhattisgarh police was carrying out an anti-Naxal operation in the forests along the inter-state border.

The exchange of fire between Naxals and security forces began around 4 pm in the forest near Tiriya village under Nagarnar police station area bordering Odisha.

The encounter broke out when the team was advancing through the forest of Tiriya, around 400 km from the capital Raipur, Deputy Inspector General of police (anti- Naxal operations) Sundarraj, news agency PTI reported.

Following the encounter, bodies of seven Naxals, including three women, were recovered from the spot, he said. The security forces also recovered one INSAS rifle, four .303 rifles and several muzzle- loading guns were from the spot.

Chhattisgarh is among the states that have been badly hit by the insurgency. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 73 security official were killed and 222 incidents of Naxal attacks were reported in the state in the year 2018, till June 30.

Earlier this month, the Centre said that Naxal violence has come down by 43 per cent in the last five years in comparison to the five-year period before that.

Replying to a written question in Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said the steadfast government policy has resulted in a consistent decline in violence and shrinkage in geographical spread of Left Wing Extremism (LWE). As a result, LWE-related violence was reported in only 60 districts in 2018, he said.