Security forces on Friday, gunned down at least one Maoist during an encounter in the jungles of luri-Satri jungles of Gumla under Chainpur police station.
The police, however, claimed that at least five rebels received bullet injuries during the encounter. The rebels also registered their presence by carrying out Naxal incidents at different parts of the State on Friday.
"Body of one rebel has been recovered so far from the jungles while the search operation is on for the others who have received bullet injuries during the encounter on Friday morning," said lohardaga SP Manoj Ratan Chothe, who is also in charge of Gumla.
"Probably it was the group of Arvind Ji where the rebels were spotted dragging at least 4-5 people suspected to be hit by the bullets of security forces," added the SP.
The encounter took place during a routine long Range Patrolling (lRP) done by the joint team of CoBRA battalion of CRPF, Jharkhand Jaguar and State Police, when a group of at least 80-90 rebels were intercepted by them. After finding themselves cornered by the security forces, the rebels started firing on the police against which the security forces also retaliated and the gun battle continued for over three hours.
"The encounter took place for over three hours followed by the joint forces, including CRPF ambushing the Naxal squad in the jungles of Bishanpur," said Chothe.
Huge cache of arms and ammunitions have also been recovered from the spot, including one US made Rifle, over 150 bullets, one hand grenade, several walky-talkies and Naxal literature, said DSP (HQ) of Gumla Kailash Karmali.
Meanwhile, the rebels attacked on the workers engaged in Dhibra Mica mines of Giridih on Friday, killing one labourer, injuring other half dozen of them. They also put one tractor and a JCB earthmover on fire after the incident.
The deceased has been identified as Shyam Kumar Raut of Teesri block of Giridih. According to the police, the injured have been rushed to Giridih for further treatment.
While, a huge cache of arms have been recovered from Jhumra hills of Bokaro during an ongoing search operation carried out by the security forces. The recovered items include two hand granades, 10 can bombs, 111 cartridges of AK-47 Rifle. Search operation to trace out the rebels was still on till filing of this report.