A trooper of CRPF’s elite 'Commando Battalion for Resolute Action' (CoBRA) was killed and another injured in a fierce gun battle with Maoists in a dense forest pocket of Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district on Saturday, police said.
"The incident happened when a team of the 208th battalion of CoBRA was undertaking a search operation in the jungles under Bheji police station about 200 km from district headquarters Sukma," Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sukma, Jitendra Shukla said.
Based on the inputs provided by intelligence agencies about presence of Naxals in the jungle, the force had reached in the forest between Gacchanpalli and Irgapal under Bheji police station limits, he said.
The security forces had undertaken the operation based on specific inputs about the movement of dreaded Maoist Commander Hidma with his group in the region, Shukla said.
When the CoBRA troopers were patrolling the forest between Ettrajpad and Gachonpally villages, a group of Maoists opened indiscriminate fire on them leading to a heavy gun-battle, he said.
As per preliminary information, a constable-rank trooper was killed and another injured, the official said, adding reinforcement was immediately rushed to the spot.
Efforts are on to take the deceased and injured personnel out of the forests, he added.
