Koraput: Heavy exchange of fire took place between the police and the Maoists inside the dense forest area in Pottangi block near the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border in Koraput district on Sunday.
Talking to mediapersons here, SP (Koraput) KB Singh said that acting on the information about the presence of a group of armed Maoists along with some top cadres inside the Sunki forest, a joint search operation by the Special Operation Group (SOG) and the District Voluntary Force (DVF) was launched at around 10.15 am.
“While the combing operation was underway, the Maoists opened fire on the security personnel to which the latter retaliated. The cross-fire continued till 1.15 pm. The security personnel later busted a Maoist camp inside the forest and seized huge cache of arms and ammunition and several Maoist articles,” Singh said.
Though the SP said that about 15 top Maoist leaders are hiding in a nearby village, he did not specify the name of the village for security reasons.
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Asked whether the exchange of fire would continue, he said the security personnel have been asked to stop the operation and return to the headquarters since it would be difficult to track down the Red Rebels at night.
