Chhattisgarh: Two BSF men killed fighting Maoists

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A senior police officer said that a joint operation was launched by the 117 and 122 battalions as well as Chhattisgarh Police from the Chhotebetoya camp, deep in the jungles of the Bandeh area in Kanker. “The exchange of fire took place at around 2.30 am when the forces reached a river in the dense forests near Becha village. The Maoists opened indiscriminate fire, in which two BSF personnel were killed and four others were injured. They were all rushed to a hospital in Raipur,” a senior officer said.

The BSF men who died were identified as Vijay Kumar and Rakesh Nehra. They were inducted into the force in 2011-12. The injured are Manoj Kumar, S Thomson, Jagdish K and Bappa D.

Six security personnel died in three separate attacks in the past week in the state. Senior police officers said this was a sign of advances security forces were making into Maoist strongholds. “The deaths are unfortunate and our heart bleeds for every soldier. If you analyse how these deaths occurred, one was during the building of a crucial road in Sukma, three in an encounter in a Maoist stronghold in Sukma, and now in Kanker. Police are advancing and the rebels are being pushed back,” an officer said.