Two 'Maoists' gunned down in Odisha's Kandhamal district

BHUBANESWAR: Security personnel on Thursday shot dead two suspected Maoists, including a woman cadre in a forest of Tumudibandha area in Kandhamal district. This was the second successful anti-Maoist operation in Kandhamal district this month. Five suspected Maoists, including two women were gunned down in the district on July 5.
Police were yet to ascertain the identities of the two Maoists, who were killed following an exchange of fire in the Tumudibandha forest.Significantly, the major operation was executed only four days after Vinit Agrawal joined as new superintendent of police (SP) of Kandhamal on July 19.
Director general of police Abhay appreciated the operation. “Acting on an intelligence input, our personnel from the special operation group and district voluntary force raided the forest. The left-wing extremists opened fire on our personnel. In retaliation, our security personnel fired back on the Maoists,” Abhay said.
Sources said around a dozen Maoists were present in the hideout when the police swooped down on them in the afternoon. When the exchange of fire stopped, the police launched a combing operation. “We recovered two bodies, including a woman cadre. They wore Maoist uniform. One INSAS firearm, 1 carbine and 2 country-made weapons have been recovered. Our personnel are safe,” Abhay said.
Earlier in the day, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) lauded Odisha police for the July 5 successful anti-Maoist operation in Kandhamal in which five top Naxal cadres were gunned down. “The union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla in a letter to the chief secretary and DGP, Odisha complimented for successful operation. He also appreciated the works our special intelligence wing (SIW) and special operation group (SOG),” a statement from state police headquarters said.
Recently, the state government declared five districts—Angul, Boudh, Sambalpur, Deogarh and Nayagarh—as Maoist-free belts. These districts did not report any Maoist-triggered violence in last two years or more, which is a major criterion for acknowledgement as Red-free zone. Total 10 out of 30 districts in the state are now affected by the LWE menace.