By IANS
Raipur : Maoists in Chhattisgarh have struck again as police Tuesday discovered bodies of the 24 security personnel who had gone missing after a gun battle with rebels in Dantewada district Monday. The radicals, meanwhile, launched fresh attacks on forces.
Inspector General of Police (Maoist Operations) Girdhari Nayak said the bodies of 24 personnel, including 16 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers, six special police officers (SPOs) and two district policemen, have been recovered in Konta block, over 500 km from here.
"The search teams of CRPF and state police, assisted by helicopters, recovered the bodies from a hilly terrain of Konta block, close to the Andhra Pradesh border," Nayak told IANS by phone.
"A total of 115 policemen, including 84 SPOs, led by 28 personnel of CRPF's 55th battalion went to the Konta block Monday afternoon to bust a Maoist hideout but about 300-400 Maoists attacked the combing force. The encounter left two CRPF men and five SPOs critically wounded," state Home Minister Ram Vichar Netam told the state assembly.
Police claimed there were casualties on the rebels' side as well during Monday's gun battle though no militant's body has been found.
"The Maoists have probably carried away the bodies or their injured comrades into thick forested areas," said Rahul Sharma, Dantewada district police chief.
Meanwhile, a fresh gun battle broke out between armed rebels and policemen in Konta block Tuesday, police said.
"Maoists opened indiscriminate fire on a state police team that had gone into thick forests in the area to search for the missing security personnel," a police official said.
In March this year, leftwing radicals had stormed into a police camp in Bijapur district and massacred 55 cops in one of the deadliest attacks they have ever carried out in India.
Thousands of people have been killed in the country since the Maoists launched their 'armed struggle' in 1967 from Naxalbari village of West Bengal. Their activities have spread to at least 13 of India's 29 states, with mineral-rich Chhattisgarh being the worst affected.
Police estimate that about 5,000 Maoists armed with AK-47 rifles and landmines are active in this state's southern hilly districts. They are backed by about 20,000 cadres who carry self-loading rifles and traditional weapons like bows and arrows.