In a relentless pursuit of anti-Naxal operations, a joint team comprising Gariaband district police, SOG Nuapada, CRPF battalions 65 and 211, and the elite 207 Cobra unit engaged in a fierce gunfight with Naxal insurgents, near Kandsar hills in Indagaon, Gariaband district, some 100 kilometers, from state capital. Acting on intelligence inputs about the presence of Udanti Area Committee members, the Security Forces (SFs) launched a meticulously planned search operation in the early hours of the day. The confrontation began around 7 am. when the joint forces encountered Naxal militants in the dense terrain. As the gunfire subsided, the body of one Naxal cadre was recovered from the site, while reports suggest that at least two others sustained injuries.

 

The forces have confirmed that all personnel involved in the operation remain unharmed. Sources revealed that the encounter is part of a larger operation aimed at dismantling Naxal networks in the Udanti region. The search teams have recovered several items of operational significance from the encounter site, and the area is being thoroughly combed to locate the injured insurgents or any additional cadres in hiding.

 

This operation comes shortly after a similar crackdown in Bastar, underscoring the intensified efforts of security forces to neutralise insurgent activities across Chhattisgarh. Reinforcement from Odisha’s Nabarangpur district had also been mobilised to cordon off potential escape routes for the insurgents. Gariaband Superintendent of Police (SP) Nikhil Rakhecha told ‘The Hitavada’, “Forces are still operating. As soon as they start retracting, we will share further details.”