As many as four personnel of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) – the special Commando unit of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) suffered injures in two separate incidents, which took place in insurgency-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, police said.
A contingent of CoBRA (208 battalion) from Errabor camp was undertaking anti-Naxal exercise in areas falling under Bhejji police was targetted by insurgents when they reached Tetri forest during morning hours, said Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Santosh Singh, adding that as many as three troopers of CoBRA suffered injuries in the encounter.
He further said that the injured CoBRA personnel were identified as Sharda Prasad, Chinmay lanka and Mridyu Pandya.
“Sensing the presence of security personnel in the forest patch, ultras opened indiscriminate firing on them leaving three troopers injured. Following the firing from rebel’s side, security personnel retaliated. The encounter lasted for around half-an-hour after which Naxals fled the spot,” he said.
According to Singh, on receipt of information about encounter, reinforcement was rushed to the spot. In the wake of the incident, an intense operation has been launched in the forest patch to nab assailants. The injured troopers were rushed to the camp from where they were airlifted to Jagdalpur for better medical assistance.
Meanwhile, in another incident, a constable from CoBRA ( 206 battalion) was injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast which took place under limits of Chintagufa police station, informed ASP Singh.
The injured constable has been identified as Mohan Patil and was a part of team undertaking operations in the region, added Singh.
While undertaking anti-Naxal operation, the injured constable might have accidentally stepped on the IED planted by ultras, said the ASP and further informed that he was airlifted to Jagdalpur for medical treatment.