At least two Maoists were gunned down by security forces on Thursday following a fierce gun-battle in Chhattisgarh's extreme insurgency-hit Sukma district of Bastar.
“The operation was launched jointly by CRPF’s elite 208th Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and two teams of Chhattisgarh’s District Reserve Group (DRG) in a region coming under under Bhejji Police Station limits," according to Inspector General of Police (IGP), Bastar Range, SRP Kalluri.
The operation was based on a tip-off about the location of Maoist Commander Hidma, who is the Head of 1st Military Battalion of the Maoists in the region, he said.
"We had received precise inputs that Hidma had arrived to take part in a marriage ceremony of a cadre in Dubbakonta village following which composite forces were mobilised last evening towards the region to nab him," Kalluri said.
When security forces reached the region this morning, a group of armed insurgents opened indiscriminate fire on them which triggered a gun-battle between the two sides, he said.
So far, two bodies of Maoists in uniform, a muzzle loading gun, INSAS rifle magazines and some articles have been recovered. However, police are yet to trace Hidma, police said.
Hidma was allegedly involved in the 2013 Jeeram valley Maoist attack in Bastar district’s Darbha region in which 31 people, including some senior state Congress leaders, were killed and also in the 2010 Chintalnar ambush in which 76 troopers were killed, police said.