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Woman naxal, jawan killed in exchange of fire

BERHAMPUR: A woman Maoist and a jawan of the Special Operation Group (SOG) were killed in an ambush in Narayanpatna block of Koraput district in south Orissa on Thursday. Three other SOG jawans were injured. The injured were shifted to Visakhapatnam for treatment. Police officials suspected the casualty and the number of injured naxalites may be more. Search is on to track down the Maoists who had targeted the SOG personnel through blasts of claymore mines followed by gun shots.

In another incident the leftist vagrants damaged the communication tower of a private mobile phone service operator at Kinaga village under Mathili police station in Malkangiri district of south Orissa on Wednesday night. They had also blown up three school buildings and a primary health centre building in the northern district of Sundargarh.

The incident in Naryanpatna block occurred at around 7.30 a.m. Two units of SOG personnel deployed for anti-naxal operations in the Maoist-prone area were on their way to Laxmipur from Naryanpatna. They were more than 40 in number. They were caught unawares by a planned ambush of Maoists. The naxals had planted pressure operated claymore mines near Jogipalur at distance of around eight km from Narayanpatna. They were also hiding in the nearby jungle to fire at the policemen.

Speaking to The Hindu, the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police, south-western range, Sanjeeb Panda, said the naxals planted 11 claymore mines. Out of them eight got blasted. Along with the blasts the SOG jawans also faced the barrage of bullets from the hiding Maoists who are said to be around 20 in number. Four SOG jawans were seriously injured. But the SOG jawans immediately retaliated. The naxals, however, escaped from the spot. The body of a woman cadre of Maoist was recovered from the spot. Her body was brought to the Narayanpatna police station. It was suspected that she was from adjoining Chhattisgarh. Driver of a rice-laden truck that was passing through the point also received minor injuries.

The injured SOG jawans were Gangadhar Dalai, Binayak Behera, S. Raut and Ashok Sahu. According to sources, Dalai died at Parvatipuram hospital on his way to Visakhapatnam. He was a resident of Bargarh district of western Orissa.

KORAPUT: Homage was paid to SOG jawan Gangadhar Dalai before his body was sent to his home town Atabira in Bargarh district.

Floral tributes were paid to the departed soul by Sanjeev Kumar Panda, DIG, South- Eastern region, Gadadhar Parida, district Collector, Deepak Kumar, SP, Koraput, Rajesh Pravakar Patil, Sub-Collector and Raghuram Padal, MLA, Koraput.

A cheque for Rs. 8 lakhs was sent to his family members along with the body, the DIG said.

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