Security forces on Tuesday launched the “final assault” at the Karregutta hills in Telangana where a coordinated and “biggest-ever” anti-Naxal operation has been launched by the CRPF a fortnight ago that has led to the recovery of more than a hundred IEDs and injuries to close to 10 personnel, official sources said.
A 32-year-old Assistant Commandant rank officer of the 204 CoBRA battalion of the CRPF, Sagar Borade, lost his left leg in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast on May 4 while he was trying to rescue an injured jawan, they said.
The officer, without caring for his life, led from the front and rescued his junior colleague. He is being recommended for a gallantry medal, the officials said.
As many as 20 new companies of the CRPF, comprising about 2,000 personnel, have been deployed in the operational area from Monday night.
About 10 personnel, five from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the rest from various units of the Chhattisgarh Police like the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF), have been injured in the operation that was launched on April 21 at the Kartegutta hills in Telangana along the border with Chhattisgarh.
Two CRPF troops suffered major IED injuries on Tuesday, and they are being airlifted for treatment. Around 120 IEDs have been recovered from the hills area till now, which is “heavily mined, along with the presence of multiple bunker-like hideouts.”
Borade, a native of Maharashtra, was first air evacuated to the state capital Raipur after the blast and was later admitted to AIIMS in Delhi via an air ambulance that has been specially stationed in Chhattisgarh for this “biggest ever” anti-Naxal operation involving as many as 20,000 troops across various locations, they said.
The forces led by the CRPF have launched a final assault now. Some senior Naxal cadres are suspected to be holed up in the hill area. The operation will reach its logical conclusion soon, a senior officer supervising the operation said.
Three women Naxals have been killed in the operation till now, and an assortment of weapons and explosives have been seized, the officer said.
Woman Naxalite Killed in Bijapur Encounter
A woman Naxalite was killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district amid the ongoing massive anti-Naxal operation in the area, a senior police official said on Tuesday.
The gunfight took place on Monday in the forest around Karregutta hills along Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj P said.
With this encounter, the bodies of four women Maoists have been recovered in the area since security forces launched the operation, involving some 24,000 personnel from different units, on April 21, he said.
A .303 rifle was also recovered from the encounter site on Monday, Sundarraj said. On April 24, three women Naxalites were killed on Karregutta Hills and a huge cache of weapons, explosives and other materials was recovered.
The ongoing operation, said to be one of the biggest counter-insurgency actions launched in Bastar region, involves personnel of the District Reserve Guard, Bastar Fighters and Special Task Force, all units of the Chhattisgarh police; Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit CoBRA, among others.
The operation was launched following inputs about the presence of senior cadres of the `battalion number 1 — considered to be the strongest military formation of the Maoists — and leaders of the Telangana state committee of the Maoists in the area. The densely forested area with a series of hills is said to be the base of the battalion no one, according to the police. Intelligence suggests that several senior Maoist cadres have either been killed or seriously injured during the operation, said Sundarraj.
Hundreds of Naxalite hideouts and bunkers have been destroyed so far and a huge cache of explosive materials, detonators, food stock and items of daily use have been seized, he said. At least six security personnel belonging to STF, DRG and CoBRA were injured in separate incidents of pressure IED blasts. All of them were out of danger, Sundarraj said. As many as 146 Naxalites have been killed in separate encounters in the state so far this year. Of them, 129 were killed in the Bastar division comprising seven districts including Bijapur.