In a major success, police destroyed a Maoist camp in the Khamankhol forest under Baliguda block in Kandhamal district on Thursday night.
A joint team of Special Operations Group (SOG) and District Voluntary Force (DVF) swooped down on the camp following a tipoff on the presence of Red rebels in the Khamankhol forest.
But 30 to 40 Maoists suspected to be present in the camp, somehow got whiff of the raid by security forces and managed to flee from the spot., taking advantage of the darkness.
Police seized uniforms, shoes, cooking utensils, water containers, mobile phones, walkie talkies, umbrellas, medicines and syringes in huge quantities from the camp. The security forces are carrying out search operations in the area to trace the fleeing guerillas.
Kandhamal SP Pratik Singh said the assessment of the seized items is currently underway and detailed information would be shared later.