Armed Naxals had ambushed at three separate spots in the dense forests of Polampalli in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh to target STF personnel who were conducting a combing operation in the region.
Seven policemen, members of Special Task Force (STF), were killed and nearly a dozen injured when Naxals ambushed them in the forests of Pidmel village under Polampalli police station limits, around 400km 450km from the state capital Raipur, today. The deceased included an officer.
As per the information provided by officials, a squad of STF (a special counter-insurgency force of state police) personnel was mobilised from Polampalli in the wee hours for carrying out a search operation.
"The operation was launched on the basis of inputs about movement of Naxals near Pidmel village. The attack took place while we were returning to our camp at Kankerlanka," Constable Ranjeet Kumar Singh told reporters.
Singh is among the personnel injured in the Maoist strike.
Naxals opened indiscriminate fire on the STF personnel from three separates places, killing Platoon Commander Shankar Rao and six jawans, he said.
Amid the gunbattle that erupted, jawans evacuated their injured colleagues to safer places. They were brought to Kankerlanka camp with the help of reinforcement and later taken to hospitals, Singh said.
Meanwhile, a senior official said that of the injured, seven were airlifted to Raipur for treatment.
The dry weather is a suitable period for carrying out ambushes in the vast jungles and the latest strike must have been planned by hardcore cadres, the official added.
