Naxal attack: Injured policemen airlifted to Raipur, radio operator critical

Raipur: Two policemen injured in naxal attack at Temelwada area of Sukma district were airlifted to Raipur for treatment on Saturday, Director General of Police, Ramniwas said. Naxals attacked the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) party on Friday during the road-opening task in the forests of Temelwada village under Chintagufa police station limits of Sukma district.

While head constable Baisuram Mandavi was killed in the attack, platoon commander Nandkishore Bhadoriya sustained injuries. Later, an IAF helicopter Mi-17 was sent to rescue the CAF personnel from Temelwada village.

When the helicopter, having seven people on-board, was descending to pick up the injured personnel of the CAF, naxals fired at it and injured the radio operator MK Sahu, who was on-board. Sahu is reported to be critical. After the attack, the chopper had to make a forced landing in forests of Chitagufa police station area.

Naxal attack: Injured policemen airlifted to Raipur

Naxals had attacked the CAF party on Friday during the road-opening task in the forests of Temelwada village.

"The injured platoon commander Nandkishore Bhadoriya and radio operator MK Sahu, who was onboard the chopper, have been airlifted to Raipur for better treatment," Ramniwas said. "Technical officials of the Indian Air Force have reached the spot where the chopper made crash landing after it was attacked," the DGP added.

After few hours of landing, the CRPF troopers cordoned off the helicopter and rushed reinforcements to the area, Ramniwas said. Additional Director General (ADG) of Naxal Operation RK Vij, ADG, Intelligence Bureau (IB) Mukesh Gupta and Inspector General of Police, CRPF, Zulfiqar Hasan have left for Sukma to ascertain the situation on Saturday, the DGP added.

Chief Minister Raman Singh strongly condemned the attack and said security forces have to be more alert while expressing grief over the death of the constable. Singh had also called a meeting Friday night with senior police officials at his official residence to take stock of incident, official sources said.

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