Eight Naxals held in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district

Eight Naxals were arrested from separate places in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-affected Sukma district, police said today.

They were held from places under the limits of Chintalnar, Chintagufa and Jagargunda police stations yesterday during joint search operations conducted by the Central Reserve Police Force, its elite unit CoBRA and the district police.

A local police official identified the arrested rebels as Madkam Sukka (25), Podiam Bheema (26), Madvi Nanga (22), Madvi Joga (25), Hemla Budhu (30), Nuppo Hidma (20), Muchaki Laxman (20) and Hemla Dhannu (23).

Madkam Sukka was a member of supply battalion of the Maoists, while the rest were members of the Maoist militia, Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Mazdoor Sangthan (a Maoist front) and Chetna Natya Manch, the cultural wing of the rebels, the official said.

All eight were allegedly involved in planting of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on a dirt track in Morpalli village near Chintalnar in December last year, the official said, adding that a police jawan was injured when it went off.