In an unfortunate incident, a six-month-old baby girl was killed and her mother was injured when they got caught in the crossfire of a shoot-out between Maoists and security forces in the forest near Mutvandi village under Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur on Monday evening.
Two District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawans were also injured in the gunfight.
According to the police, the shoot-out happened at around 5pm during an area domination exercise by the DRG and Central Police Reserve Force (CRPF) in the forests near Mutvandi which lies along the Dantewada border.
The injured woman and the two jawans were rushed to the hospital following the encounter. A search operation is underway at the site of the encounter.
Informing about the encounter, Bijapur ASP, Vaibhav Banker said, “There was an encounter between the police and the Naxalites in which 2 DRG jawans were injured. A child died and his mother was injured in the crossfire by the Naxalites. We are conducting search operation by the DRG and CRPF in the area.”
Sources said Bhairamgarh area committee secretary Chandranna was seriously injured in the encounter.
Notably, the BSF had unearthed a huge cache of Maoist materials including gun-manufacturing equipment and explosives in Malkangiri and Koraput districts recently.
It is pertinent to mention here that many Maoists are trying to enter Odisha after fleeing from Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh due to anti-Maoist operations in these neighbouring States.