Raipur, August 3: In another breakthrough for security forces, one Naxal was killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district today, while two policemen also sustained injuries. The encounter took place around 11.30 am in Basaguda village, located around 450 km away from the capital Raipur. Bijapur Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI, “As per the preliminary information, a group of 15 to 20 Naxalites, dressed as civilians, opened fire on two jawans and also attacked them with sharp weapons in a bid to kill them and loot their weapons, like in the previous attacks committed by ultras during the weekly markets.”

Two assistant constables who were injured in the encounter have been identified as Punem Shankar and Umant Rao Durgam. According to reports, Naxals tried to escape with their weapons, but due to heavy retaliatory firing by the police personnel prevented Naxals from doing so. Garg said that in view of the presence of villagers at the market, the security personnel had to be cautious in their retaliatory action.

The injured jawans were evacuated to Bijapur from where they will be airlifted to Raipur for treatment. The condition of assistant constable Punem is said to be critical. The deceased Naxal is yet to be identified. A joint team of security forces has launched combing operation in the area to trace the attackers.

In a similar attack on July 15, two Border Security Force (BSF) jawans were martyred, and another was injured in a gunbattle with Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district. The gunfight took place in a forest near Mahla camp of BSF under Partapaur police station limits. However, on July 31, Naxal zone commander of Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee (TSPC), Brahmdev Ganjhu, who had Rs 3 lakh bounty on his head, surrendered before the Latehar police in Jharkhand. Brahmdev became a Maoist at the age of 10 due to some land issue.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 03, 2018 08:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).