The incident took place in the morning under Jagargunda police station area when a team of the CRPF's 165th battalion was out on an anti-Maoist operation, a police official said.
The Indian Air Force on Thursday said it has deployed Garud Special Forces commandos and four choppers for anti-Naxal operations but withdrawn the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles operating in Maoist bastions in Chhattisgarh.
With aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation suspending the operating permit of Global Vectra, the Ministry of Home Affairs ambitious plan to hire nearly a dozen helicopters from the private firm to be used for anti-Naxal operations has come a cropper.
The incident occurred around 7.45 pm on the "black top road" between Peddakodepal and Naimed villages under the Naimed police station area, when the victims were heading towards neighbouring Dantewada district in an SUV to visit a fair, said Deputy Inspector General (anti-naxal operation) Sundarraj P.
Many IEDs explode even when the troops are on foot and their trigger mechanism gets activated just due to the pressure of the feet. These incidents have injured more than 100 personnel over the last two years, the officer said.
In a fresh strategy to combat the Naxal menace, the government on Wednesday asked Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal to create a unified command for anti-Maoist operations and to appoint a retired major general of the army as its member.
He accused Naxalites of using tribal villagers as a shield.
Eight District Reserve Guards (DRG) jawans and a civilian driver were killed in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district when Naxals detonated an improvised explosive device targeting their vehicle. The incident occurred near Ambeli village while the security personnel were returning from an anti-Naxalite operation. This is the biggest Naxal attack on security forces in the region in the past two years.
The encounter broke out early on Saturday between a BSF patrol and armed Naxal cadres near the Chhotebethiya-Pakhanjore jungle axis of the Maoist violence-hit district, officials said.
The government has sanctioned fresh funds totalling Rs 2,079 crore to the CRPF and nine Naxal-hit states to combat Maoist challenge with a bulk of the money earmarked for the central force.
The Naxalites carrying sophisticated weapons, including AK-47 rifles, targeted the two unarmed cops when they had just reported for duty at the mobile check-post on the inter-state border, an area that has witnessed a Maoist attack after a long time, they said.
As his father takes on the Naxals in Chhattisgarh, Sopan Khosla has scored his own victory.
All Naxal-affected states demonstrate police as well as governance incapacities. Odd occasions of success and temporary dip in Naxal violence notwithstanding, the states have utterly failed to dominate and make their presence felt over areas under the extremist domination, says Bibhu Prasad Routray.
Thirteen Naxals were arrested and a huge cache of weapons and explosives was seized from the naxal-infested Abuzmad region, as a part of the joint operation of Chhattisgarh police and Central Reserve Police Force, a top police official said.
They were identified as LOS commander Erra and woman cadre Podiyam Bhime, deputy commander of the same squad, Sharma said.
The Central Reserve Police Force has sought the cover of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act for its men conducting anti-Naxal operations at a time when continuance of the controversial Act in areas of Jammu and Kashmir and the North East is being debated.
Differences between the Home and Defence ministries on the use of special forces of the Army and setting up of a unified command centre for anti-Naxal operations today came to the fore at the Cabinet Committee on Security meet on Thursday, which ended without any decision being taken.
Four Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed and as many injured when Naxals ambushed a road opening party of the security forces in Maoist-hit Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, the police said.
"The air wing deployed for anti-naxal operations will ensure that at least one helicopter is essentially available for casualty evacuation duties and responding to SOS from injured troops will be their topmost priority," BSF Special Director General Arvind Ranjan said.
Official sources in the Home Ministry said there will be a trial run of UAVs from next week in which Army may also be roped in because of their expertise in such kind of operations.
Cousins of the special breed canines, which assisted the elite US Navy SEALs in sniffing out Osama bin Laden from his safe haven in Pakistan, will now help Indian security forces in 'find and fix' anti-Naxal operations in dense forests and difficult terrains.
Karnataka government on Saturday announced a week-long ceasefire from Monday in anti-Naxal operations to facilitate surrender of Maoists, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said.
West Bengal government is gearing up to launch full-fledged operations against Maoists and has sought 2,000 additional paramilitary personnel from the Centre.
In the wake of repeated attacks by Maoists on the Central Reserve Police Force, the government is working out a plan for the redeployment of paramilitary forces engaged in anti-Naxal operations in states.
Almost seven such "Malinois" breed dogs have been trained by the premier police dog training centre of the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at their academy near Chandigarh for about 22 weeks.
Bracing to tackle the deadly Malarial parasite which has claimed the lives of a number of CRPF jawans, the force has begun dispatching consignments of medicines and repellents to its troops deployed for anti-Naxal operations in various states.
Naxals have called a bandh in Gadchiroli and Gondia districts of Maharashtra on July 15 to protest the killing of fellow women in recent encounters.
The Centre on Tuesday ruled out use of air power in the fight against Naxalites and admitted obviously some element of failure in the operations led to the killing of 75 security personnel in Chhattisgarh.
In a brazen daytime attack, Naxals on Tuesday ambushed a security team killing 15 personnel including 11 of the Central Reserve Police Force and also a civilian in a chilling reminder of the 2010 massacre of 76 securitymen in the same area in the worst-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.
Amid proposals for using helicopters for movement of paramilitary forces during anti-Naxal operations, the Indian Air Force has suggested to the government that its 15 choppers deputed for UN peacekeeping forces may be called back as it has constraints of resources.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will be used for the first time to detect Naxal hideouts in dense forests and hilly terrains and monitor the movement of ultras to help ground forces carry out precision attacks.
Three police personnel and two Maoists were killed in a gun-battle between security personnel and ultras in dense forests of Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Sunday, police said.
The Union home ministry on Tuesday ruled out involvement of the army in anti-Naxal operations but said more paramilitary forces will be deployed for intensified operations in Maoists-hit areas to flush out the extremists.
The troops of these two units are expected to be based in Samba and near the Jammu-Punjab border, the sources said.
The Indian Air Force has requested the government to ensure that states hit by left wing extremism spruce up their infrastructure to ensure safety and security of air force helicopters and men deployed in anti-Naxal operations.
The government on Monday announced service medals for 954 police personnel of various central and state forces on the eve of Independence Day.
Officials said the incident occurred at about 3:00 am when a Maoist squad mounted sniper fire on a CRPF camp in the jungles of Rangareddy in Gangloor area of the district.
The government has moved the Supreme Court asking it to review and recall two crucial clauses of the July 5 order banning Special Police Officers in the anti-Naxal operations in states like Chhattisgarh.
This is suspected to be a Naxal ambush for security forces. Maoists fired multiple rounds while attacking the vehicle-mounted team, the official said.
A Border Security Force jawan was killed in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, the third strike by the ultras since Saturday in the state.
