SOG jawan, lady Maoist killed in encounter

BHUBANESWAR: In a gun battle between left ultras and armed police, a jawan of elite anti-Naxalite force-Special Operation Group (SOG)- and a woman Maoist cadre were on Thursday killed during a combing operation at Pallur in Orissa’s Koraput district, nearly 500 km from here.

Police suspects that at least two more rebels might have been killed in the gun battle.

“We recovered the body of the lady Maoist from the scene of the battle. An INSAS rifle was found near here. We believe there might be more casualties among the rebels and search operation is on to find dead bodies,” Koraput superintendent of police Deepak Kumar said.

A fierce gun battle between the security men and the Maoists ensued when a group of around 30 ultras ambushed a combing party inside forest at Pallur.

The guerrillas first detonated claymore mines targeting the combing party in which four SOG jawans were injured. Then they fired at them from their hideout provoking return fire from the security men.

While one SOG member died on the spot in the landmine explosion, three others sustained bullet injuries. All the injured were admitted to the nearby hospital. One of them was airlifted to Visakhpatnam in Andhra Pradesh, when his condition worsened.

In a separate incident, the Maoists on Thursday blew up a mobile telephone tower at Kiranda under Mithili police station in the neighbouring Malkangiri district, nearly 600 km from here, by using landmines.