By IANS,
Raipur : Chhattisgarh police Tuesday gunned down three guerrillas in the Maoist stronghold of Bastar.
According to police, the gun battle began at the thickly forested hamlet of Kharka, 270 km south of this state capital, in Narayanpur district that forms part of the vast Bastar region.
“The gun battle began when a combing squad of the district force was challenged by armed Maoists. Three rebels were killed on the spot,” Pawan Deo, deputy inspector general, police headquarters, told IANS.
In another incident, a senior police official — Surguja Range Inspector General of Police B.S. Marawi — was injured late Monday when rebels opened fire on his convoy in Surguja district close to the Jharkhand border. He was rushed to a hospital in Ambikapur, the district headquarters of Surguja, where doctors said he was out of danger.
Bastar region, which comprises the five districts of Narayanpur, Kanker, Bastar, Dantewada and Bijapur, has 12 assembly seats and goes to polls Nov 14 along with 39 more constituencies in the first phase. Round two of the elections will be held on Nov 20.