Thirteen security personnel have gone missing after a major encounter on Saturday evening with Maoists in Sukma district of Bastar region, police said.
Police said that 14 other personnel were injured and were brought to Raipur , about 400 km north of Sukma for treatment on Saturday night.
Chhatisgarh’s Director General of Police (DGP) D M Awasthi said the encounter took place at around 1 pm on Saturday near Korajguda hills in Chintagufa area when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-Maoist operation.
“There were multiple encounters after 1pm, which took place in that area till evening. After the force came back we found that 13 jawans of state police were missing and 14 were injured,” Awasthi said.
The operation was launched by the police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force and CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) had launched the operation from Chintagufa and involved 150 security personnel,
A large reinforcement was sent to encounter spot on Sunday morning, the DGP said.
“We have launched operation for 13 missing security personnel on Sunday and waiting for the results,” said the police chief.
The DGP further said that the encounter took place with battalion number one of CPI (Maoist), which is led by Mandavi Hidma.
“There were about 300 Maoists who were led by Hidma … We have information that the cadres of other states have also gathering near Minpa,” the DGP added.
Earlier this month, two Chhattisgarh Armed Forces (CAF) personnel were killed and a Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) trooper was injured in an ambush by Maoists in Bastar district.
