Odia jawan martyred in naxal attack in Jharkhand

In a tragic incident, a jawan from Odisha was killed in an attack by naxals in Jharkhand on Friday. The deceased Odia jawan has been identified as Sushant Khuntia who hailed from the Anandapur area in Keonjhar district. Khuntia was posted as a jawan with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

As per reports, an encounter broke out between security forces and naxals in which two jawans were initially injured today. After the encounter, both the injured jawans were airlifted to Ranchi for better treatment. At the hospital one was declared dead, said Chaibasa Police.

Later, Khuntia, who sustained a bullet injury in his chest, succumbed while undergoing treatment. He was engaged with the CRPF since 2012.

The Naxal ambushed the jawans when they were returning from a combing operation.

Senior officials said that CRPF, Jharkhand Police, CoBRA, Jharkhand Jaguar, and other state forces are carrying out a drive against naxals in the Kolhan area.

“In the past two days, we have gained huge successes as well. Two days ago in an encounter, a big camp of naxals was destroyed. This encounter was mainly against the top Maoist Misir Besra,” AV Homkar, IG Operations told ANI.

AV Homkar said that today during the drive when the team was going ahead, they had an encounter with naxals. In this CRPF constable, Sushant Kumar Khuntia and Munna Lal Yadav got injured. We evacuated them but sadly Sushant Kumar lost his life. Munna Lal at present is out of danger, he added.