Three District Reserve Group (DRG) troopers were injured in a fierce gun battle with Maoists in the dense jungles of Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district in Bastar on Tuesday, police said.
The encounter took place during the wee hours in the forest of Kilam Becha village when a joint squad of the DRG and local police was carrying out an anti-Naxal operation in the region, according to Chhattisgarh’s Special Director General of Police, Anti-naxal operations, DM Awasthi.
While the troopers were cordoning-off the forest in Kilam Becha, a group of armed rebels opened indiscriminate fire on them leaving three DRG jawans injured, he said.
However, when the security personnel retaliated heavily , the Maoists fled from the spot.
Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured troopers were evacuated from the forest. They are being airlifted to Raipur for treatment, Awasthi said.
The injured personnel have been identified as sub-inspector Pushpraj Nagwanshi, Assistant Sub-inspector Awadh Ram Sahu and Constable Vinay Singh, police said.
Nagwanshi has sustained critical injuries in the incident.
Police suspect that some Maoists might have also been injured or killed in the gun battle as blood stains were found at the spot, he said.
A massive combing operation has been launched in the region, Awasthi said.