An assistant commandant and an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were killed in a Maoist attack in Chhotedongar area of Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh on Friday. The two personnel of the āEā company of 45th battalion of ITBP were killed just about 600 metres from the Kademeta camp of the forces.
The deceased have been identified as assistant commandant Sudharkar Shinde, a native of Nanded in Maharashtra, and ASI Gurumukh Singh, who hailed from Raikot in Punjab, inspector general of police (IG) of Bastar range, Sundarraj P., told THE WEEK.
The security personnel were on an area domination operation when they were attacked. The Maoists also managed to loot an AK-47 gun, two bulletproof jackets and a wireless set, the IG said. Search operations are on in the area.
This is the second incident of security personnel getting killed in the same area within a month. On July 20, an ITBP constable was killed and another injured in an encounter with Maoists in the Amdai Ghati of the same Chhotedongar police station area in Narayanpur.
The personnel were part of a road opening party (ROP) for the visit of local Congress MLA Chandan Kashyap. The deceased was identified as Shiv Kumar Meena from Rajasthan.
The area in question is said to be in complete control of the Maoists, and the eastern Bastar divisional committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) is active in the area. This division is likely to be responsible for the attack on ITBP personnel. Road construction work is undeway in the area to connect Naryanpur to Dantewada. Normally, Maoists try to cause disruption in road construction in their area of dominance and carry out attacks, sources said.
However, the party attacked on Friday was not involved in road construction security but in general area domination operation, the IG said.
