No lapses in Bijapur encounter; fought with 750 trained Naxals, killed around 30, says DG CRPF

By Ankur Sharma
New Delhi [India], April 6 (ANI): Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Kuldiep Singh on Tuesday said that security forces fought with 700-750 most trained Naxals, broke the ambush and neutralised more than 28-30 Naxals, secured weapons and rescued injured jawans.
He also said that there were absolutely no lapses on the part of coordination, intelligence, operational, reinforcement or rescue.
Speaking to ANI, Singh said, "We had reports that there was heavy presence of Naxals in a village in Bijapur. We planned a joint operation of Cobra battalion, DRG, Bastariya Battalion and STF Chattisgarh. There were a total of 450 people in the operation," DG said.
"It was a search and destroy operation. The forces went to the area on April 3 and searched the area in the early morning light. When they were returning after the search, Naxals who had set up an ambush, started randomly firing at the security forces using countrymade Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) and large numbers of light machine guns (LMG) and other automatic weapons. There were approximately 700-750 Naxals with whom forces fought and broke their ambush," DG said.
When asked about any intelligence failure and lack of leadership in the operation, Singh said, "There was no intelligence failure. There is absolutely no lapse in any part of coordination, intelligence, operational, reinforcement or rescue. Commandant level officers were there. The strategy was fixed. The forces broke the ambush and guarded the injured at the same time. They walked 8-9 kilometres while neutralising the Naxals. Thereafter, the Naxals took protection in the village houses." DG also said that Naxals have said that 28 Naxals have died in the operation but since they don't reveal the actual number of casualties, it would be more than that. Though DG said that chopper required certain conditions to land due to which it landed after some time.
When asked about the missing jawan who is reportedly abducted by Naxals, DG said, "One jawan Rakeshwar Singh Manhas is still missing. Rumours are that he is in the captivity of Naxals. Currently, we are verifying the news and planning an operation in that regard."
22 security personnel lost their lives while 31 sustained injuries in an encounter that broke out between security forces and Naxals along the Sukma-Bijapur border on Saturday after a party of jawans was ambushed by Maoists near Jonnaguda village. (ANI)