Kandhamal: Security personnel destroyed a Maoist camp inside a forest in Odisha’s Kandhamal district in the morning hours on Tuesday.
As informed by the Kandhamal SP, Pratik Singh, the district police had received intelligence input about the presence of some Maoists inside Kukulajhar forest in Khajuripada block on Monday evening.
Acting on the tipoff, the Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel began combing operation in Kukulajhar forest in the morning on Tuesday.
During the combing operation, the Maoists opened fire at the SOG jawans who immediately retaliated.
Sources said about 50 rounds of fire were exchanged between the security personnel and the Maoists.
During the cross-fire the Maoists managed to escape under the dense forest cover.
Later, the SOG jawans destroyed a camp set up by the Maoists and recovered huge number of articles and some live ammunition from the camp.
The SP said as per intelligence input, there were 12-15 Maoists inside the forest and they were the active members of the KKBN (Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-
He further said following the presence of the Maoist in Kukulajhar forest, the search operation will continue.
“We are making efforts to gather advance information to ascertain the movement of the Maoists in Kandhamal district,” Singh added.