Jawans storm Naxal bastion in Sukma, eliminate 15 Maoists

Heavily armed troopers stormed into Maoists’ camp at a thickly forested stretch in Sukma district on Monday and gunned down 15 armed rebels and recovered their dead bodies.

Acting on a specific intelligence input, a joint team of personnel of the District Reserve Guard, Special Task Force, Central Reserve Police Force and its elite unit Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) surrounded guerrillas’ base camp at Maoist bastion situated between Gollapalli and Konta and sprayed bullets from all sides after closing all possible escape routes.

“So far 15 bodies have been recovered with high-tech weapons, including INSAS rifles, .303 rifles, .315 rifles, 12-bore guns, explosives and detonators.

Area committee leader Markam Deva, who had a bounty of Rs 5 lakh, has been arrested, along with a female Maoist, who sustained bullet wound in her leg,” DM Awasthi, Special DG (Naxal Operation), told reporters.

The Special DG termed the operation “one of the boldest actions of recent years by the forces against Maoists” in their stronghold and asserted that such daring operations would continue against Naxals to pack them up from Bastar where they hold sway in interiors since late 1980s.

The operation against Maoists in their hideouts in Sukma was launched after a recent statement by Chief Minister Raman Singh, who warned Maoists in a function in Raipur that they (Naxals) either join mainstream of society or get ready for consequences.

The Chief Minister commended forces on Monday for their “successful operation” and vowed to take development to extreme interiors and forests of Bastar where Maoists have monopoly.

Sources at police headquarters in Raipur claimed that the Sukma operation would boost morale of thousands of police personnel who are currently deployed in hostile hilly terrain of Bastar for anti-Naxal operation.