Lagatar24 Desk
Narayanpur, May 4: A District Reserve Guard (DRG) head constable was killed in an encounter with Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-plagued Narayanpur district on Wednesday.
A joint team of various security personnel was out on a search operation when the fight occurred at 8.15 a.m. in a forest in Tulargufa-Mungari region within Chhotedongar police station limits, according to Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P. The operation along the Palli-Barsur axis on the Narayanpur-Dantewada inter-district border was initiated on Tuesday by a joint squad of personnel from the DRG and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), he added.
On Wednesday morning, a DRG patrolling team was cordoning off forests between Tulargufa and Mungari when it came under heavy fire from a group of ultras, resulting in the gunfight. Later, the exchange of fire came to a halt, and reinforcements were dispatched to the scene, he claimed.
“DRG head constable Salik Ram Markam (37) suffered bullet injuries in the face-off and later died,” said the official.
The Bastar region, which includes Narayanpur and is divided into seven districts, has seen several deadly attacks on security forces in the past, especially during the summer season, when rebels carry out their annual ‘tactical counter offensive campaign’ (TCOC) and ramp up their offensive activities.
More details are awaited.