CRPF jawan killed in Maoist encounter in Jharkhand

A Central Reserve Police Force jawan of the specialised COBRA unit was killed and a Deputy Commandant injured in a fierce encounter with Maoists at Chiklam village in Jharkhand’s Naxal-hit Ghatsila sub-division on Wednesday.

Depity Inspector General (Kolhan range, Jharkhand) Md Nehal said police had received information that a huge Maoist squad had entered the village from the dense Dalma forest on Tuesday night.

CRPF forces and district armed police from Jharkhand together with a Cobra unit, CRPF 69 battalion personnel, Central Industrial Security Force and police officials from Jhargram in West Bengal launched a joint operation cordoning off the village since Wednesday morning, DIG (Kolhan Range) and sub-divisional police officer, Jhargram, Vivek Varma said.

The encounter began at 5 am and continued till 8 am with almost 200 rounds fired by the security forces. Intermittent exchange of fire between the Maoists and the police continued even afterwards, the SDPO said.

Varma said security forces had cordoned off the area but had not yet commenced flushing out operations as the rebels were still holed up in the village.

Senior Superintendent of Police East Singhbhum, Amol V Homkar said the deputy commandant (Cobra battalion) Alok Kumar was injured in the Maoist firing and airlifted to a hospital in Ranchi.

Casualty on the Maoist side was not immediately known, the official said.

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