10 Naxals killed in Chhattisgarh encounter
Raipur : Ten Naxals were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh Thursday, police said.
The face-off took place in forests under Bhairamgarh police station area of Bijapur district when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxal operation, state Director General of Police D M Awasthi told reporters here.
"Police received a specific input about the presence of Maoist Divisional Committee members Rajman Mandavi and Sukhlal with 50-60 cadres in the interiors of Bhairamgarh forest. They were reportedly conducting a training camp for the lower-rung cadres there," he said.
Acting on the tip-off, around 200 members of the combined squad of the Special Task Force and the District Reserve Guard launched the operation Wednesday night, he said.
"When the patrolling team was in the forest near Borga village, around 450 km from the state capital Raipur, at around 11 am on Thursday, the Naxals opened fire on them that led to the gun-battle," he said.
"The intermittent firing lasted for two-and-a-half hours. When the exchange of fire ended, bodies of 10 uniform- clad Naxals were recovered from the spot along with 11 muzzle loading guns and a 315 bore revolver," Awasthi said.
A large cache of explosives was also recovered from the spot, he said. Terming it as a successful intelligence-based operation in the beginning of 2019, Awasthi said such operations will continue.
Reinforcement has been rushed to the spot to assist the patrolling team to evacuate the bodies, he said.
"The identity of the killed Naxals and other details will be known once the security forces return," he added.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
