Police recovers a Naxal's body from Sukma CRPF attack site

The Chhattisgarh Police recovered the body of a Naxal the Sukma nNaxalattack site in Burkapal on Thursday night. The police suspect that the Naxal was killed during the exchange of fire with CRPF jawans on April 24. The attack had left at least 25 CRPF men dead. 

“The body of a Naxalite was recovered last night from the forest, just 500 metres away from the spot where the gun battle had taken place between the CRPF and the rebels on April 24,” Special Director General of Police (anti-Naxal operations) D M Awasthi told PTI.

Acting on reports of the movement of Naxals in the area after the ambush, the security forces were carrying out the combing operations, he said.

While cordoning off a forested patch in Burkapal area last night, the patrolling team recovered the body of the Maoist who was reported to be killed in the ambush, Awasthi said.

The body was yet to be identified, he said.

Following the ambush, there were reports of death of several other Naxalites in the gunfight but the rebels managed to drag the bodies inside the forest.

The search operation is underway in the interiors of the region to trace the ultras involved in the incident, the senior police officer said.

On April 24, as many as 25 CRPF personnel were killed and seven others injured when the Naxals attacked a patrol party of 74th battalion of the paramilitary force near Burkapal village of Sukma, around 450 kms away from Raipur.

Besides, 12 men of the paramilitary force were killed in an earlier attack near Bheji village in the same district on March 11.

The CRPF is set to overhaul its anti-Naxal operations in the south Bastar in the aftermath of one of the biggest attacks on the force in the state on Monday and a fresh offensive is expected to be launched soon.It is suspected that after the incident, Naxals took the body of their man and buried it in forest a little far away from the site. 

The body of a Naxal was found during the search operation, Sukma Additional SP R Shukla confirmed. 

(With Inputs from PTI)