2 CRPF men killed in Naxal attack

The CRPF claimed that one of the training camps in Metala forest in Goaltore,a hotbed on Maoists,came under an unexpected attack from a sleeping squad of the Maoists. According to sources in the CRPF,the camp was put up only a few days ago.

Vivek Sahai,IG,CRPF,said,We were running a training camp in Metala forest. Today at around 1.30 am,the camp was suddenly attacked by a Maoist sleeping squad. Our personnel retaliated. We lost two men. But there is no question of any panic in the area as we have absolute command and control over the area.

A senior official in New Delhi said,The CRPF team comprising 150 men had been exploring the entire area for the past three days for Maoist activities. They were resting in a camp when the attack took place.

Senior police officials,however,claimed that the casualties could have been due to panic firing by some CRPF personnel. Recently,a battalion has arrived from Jammu and Kashmir and the personnel are yet to adjust to the new environment.

During a night ambush practice session a security personnel got alarmed and started firing from his automatic weapon. It led to others opening fire and in the crossfire two CRPF men got killed,it was learnt. There were 200 rounds of firing.

WITH ENS,NEW DELHI