Villager injured in Naxal attack dies

Bijapur:A villager who was critically injured in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district died at a hospital in neighbouring Telangana, a police official said on Sunday.

On Saturday evening, two policemen were killed and the villager received injuries when Naxals opened fire on them near Tongguda camp of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Pamed area, located around 500 km from the state capital Raipur, he said.

Constable Arvind Minj and assistant constable Sukku Hapka, belonging to the District Police Force, along with the villager, identified as Kawasi Itta, were returning on a motorcycle to Tongguda camp from Tippapuram side, he said.

A 'Small Action Team' of Naxals (typically comprising four-five cadres) opened fire on them, killing Minj and Hapka on the spot and leaving Itta critically injured, he said.

The villager was initially shifted to a hospital at Cherla in Telangana, located around 17 km from Pamed.

"He was later referred to a Bhadrachalam-based hospital where he succumbed to his injuries in the wee hours of Sunday," the official said, adding that the body was brought back to Itta's native village Gadigudam in Pamed.

The two jawans were posted at the CRPF camp for coordination between local police and paramilitary personnel in anti-Naxal operations, he said.

As per preliminary information, Naxals were apparently frustrated with the death of two of their colleagues in an encounter with a joint team of the special anti-Naxal Greyhounds unit of Telangana and Chhattisgarh Police on April 21 in Pamed area, the official said.

Since then, they were keeping a watch on the movement of security forces in the area to target them, he said.

On finding the two policemen on a motorcycle without any extra security, the rebels attacked them and the villager, he said.

A search operation was underway in the area to track down the attackers, he added.