A jawan of the Special Task Force (STF) was on Wednesday injured in a gun-battle with Maoists in restive Sukma district of Bastar, police said.
The skirmish took place this morning in a forest in Regargatta village of Sukma when a joint team of personnel from different security forces was out in an anti-Maoist operation, a local police official said.
The composite squad of STF, District Reserve Guard (DRG) and district force was passing through the forest in Regargatta when the personnel came under heavy fire from a group of ultras.
This led to a gun battle between the two sides, he said. However, the rebels soon escaped into the dense forest, the official said. "A constable of the STF sustained bullet injury in the incident," he said.
Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured jawan was admitted to a local hospital from where he was airlifted to Raipur for further treatment, he said. The constable's condition was stated to be out of danger, the official said.
Only yesterday, another police jawan was injured when a pressure bomb allegedly planted by Maoists went off at a forest patch in Bijapur district of Bastar, police said.
A team of security personnel was patrolling to ensure security to the road construction works when the bomb exploded on Wednesday morning at the forest in Depla village, according to Bijapur Additional Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg.
The construction of the road is underway between Bhopalpatnam and Tarlaguda, he informed.
When the patrolling team was passing through a dirt track near Depla, a constable of the district force inadvertently stepped over the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) connection, triggering a blast that left him injured, Garg said.
Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured jawan was admitted to a hospital in Bijapur, from where he was being airlifted to Raipur for further treatment, the ASP said.
A combing operation was underway in the region, he added.