Police, Naxalites exchange fire on Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border

Raipur: A joint team of Chhattisgarh police and Gadchiroli police went out on an anti-naxalite operation, based on a specific intelligence input in Bijapur district, when they came under indiscriminate firing by the Maoists on Wednesday night. An encounter broke out between Maoists and security personnel, no casualty was reported. A police official said that a credible input was received by Gadchiroli police on August 15 about presence of Maoist LOS Sandra and other Naxal formations in north of Bhopalpattanam in Bijapur district bordering Maharashtra. A joint team of about 200 C60 commandos of Gadchiroli and 70 District Reserved Guards personnel from Bijapur was immediately formed for combing operation in probable location on Wednesday night. When the teams were combing the area late evening, Naxals opened indiscriminate firing on police parties which was retaliated by joint police teams. After heavy exchange of fire between police parties and Naxals, the cadres retreated into deep forests.During the search of area carried out subsequently by security personnel, large amount of Naxal literature, four pitthus (bags full of basic material), one mobile phone, tarpaulin sheets, utensils and other items etc were seized by the joint team. The team safely reached the camp at Bhopalpattnam around midnight.