The exchange of fire took place when the jawans of the elite Special Operation Group (SOG) of Orissa police were conducting a combing operation in the area on Monday morning after Maoists killed a local leader of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) late on Sunday night. Police claimed to have killed two Naxalites in the gun battle which continued for hours. However, their dead bodies were yet to be recovered.
On Sunday night a group of nearly 60 armed Maoists dragged a local BJD leader Rajkishore Panda from his residence in Telenpali village under Khaprakhol block and shot him dead.
Meanwhile, in Naxal infested Koraput district in south Orissa, vehicular traffic between Narayanpatna and Laxmipur came to a grinding halt as Maoists blocked the highway by putting land mines in order to disrupt the traffic.
The Naxal operating in the state observed the day as a “black day”. Keeping in mind the threats from Naxals, the security system was tighten to foil any attacks from them.
Security measures had been beefed up in all parts of the state particularly in the capital and naxal infested districts where the national tricolour was unfurled by chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his cabinet colleagues respectively.
Naxals open fire on CRPF camp
I-Day celebrations were marred in Jharkhand as Maoists on Monday fired on a CRPF camp, triggering an encounter at Rania in Khunti district. According to Rania police station in-charge Raj Kapoor, the rebels opened fire soon after the flag hoisting ceremony at the CRPF camp.
The security personnel also retaliated, police said.
