Police identified the slain personnel as CoBRA commandos Devan C and Pavan Kumar and CRPF constable Laambdhar Sinha.
3 jawans killed in encounter with Naxals in Chhattisgarh
The gunfight was raging till late evening. This is the biggest Maoist attack in Bastar since the BJP government took over last month.
Tekulguda is the stronghold of dreaded Maoist commander Hidma and security forces have been trying for long to make inroads in the area. The Tekulguda police camp, in the Jagargunda hills on the Sukma-Bijapur border, has been set up as part of the strategy to push deeper into Maoist-dominated regions.
Things are still being put in place at the camp and a joint team of CoBRA commandos, state Special Task Force and District Reserve Guards was patrolling the Jonaguda-Aliguda area when they came under attack.
Maoists triggered an IED explosion, fired rifle grenades and raked the patrol team with gunfire, sources said. The security forces retaliated fiercely but many of them were hit in the first burst.
At least 13 jawans suffered splinter injuries from the IED and grenades. IG Sundarraj said all the injured personnel are out of danger.
Some of the survivors were flown to Raipur, 450km away, while the rest were admitted to a hospital in Jagdalpur, around 170km from the battle zone.
“Despite the loss of lives among jawans in the 2021 ambush in Tekulguda, we are making a strong effort to establish peace, protection and progress by setting up the police camp for people’s welfare. Our jawans are determined to eliminate the Naxal problem,” the IG said.
Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai has expressed grief over the death of three jawans.
Tekulguda is a forest region close to the Telangana border and ringed by areas that have been the site of many a bloodbath, including at Tadmetla, where 76 security personnel were massacred by Maoists in April 2010. It’s the native place of Maoist commander Hidma, whose name pops up in every major Maoist attack in Bastar, including the 2013 Jhiram Ghati massacre of frontline Congress leaders and Burkapal ambush of April 2017 in which 24 CRPF personnel were killed. At least 29 jawans have been killed in Tekulguda alone.