CoBRA jawan injured in Maoist encounter in Bijapur; Grenade launcher recovered

BASTAR/RAIPUR: A head constable of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was injured in an encounter with Maoists in Bastar’s Bijapur district on Tuesday, police said adding that some Maoists have also sustained injuries.

Police said that the encounter took place at around 1.10 pm in the forest between Kottaguda and Pegdapalli villages under Basadguda police station area when a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force (STF) and 210th battalion of CoBRA were put for anti-naxal operations.

Police have also recovered a Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL) and live shells from the encounter spot, besides explosives and other Maoist-related materials.

“The joint team was out for an operation and when they were cordoning off Pegdapalli village, a group of Maoists opened fire. The security forces retaliated and the Maoist fled inside the jungle. A head constable of CoBRA, Sanjeev Kumar, sustained injuries but his condition is stable”, Inspector General of Police, Bastar range, Sunderaj P, said in a statement.

“We have recovered one Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL), explosives and other Maoist literature from the spot. Police have also launched a combing operation in the jungles after the encounter,” IG said.

On Sunday, four security personnel were injured in Maoist attack on a police camp in Bijapur district.

It is worth mentioning that Maoists’ tactical counter-offensive campaign or TCOC, under which they carry out attacks between March and July every year, is going on.

The TCOC is a department of Maoists which works directly under the Central Military Commission (CMC) of CPI (Maoist) and the head of CMC is responsible for making strategy in this period which is between March to July every year.The aim of TCOC is to do maximum damage to the security forces because the jungle is transparent and dry. Senior Maoist cadres also recruit some new cadres and deploy them to the areas where the Maoists are planning attacks.

Officials believe that since security forces opened about 10 security camps in the core strongholds of Maoists and have not faced any serious reverses in this TCOC, Maoists are hell-bent in causing serious damage to security forces.