When the patrolling team was cordoning off the forest area near Kottalendra, an exchange of fire broke out between the two sides, he said. After they found the security personnel zeroing in on them, the Naxalites escaped from the spot, he said.
Five Naxalites were arrested following a gunfight with security forces in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, a senior police official said. The face-off took place around 11.30 am in the forest of Kottalendra village under Errabor police station limits, he said.
Acting on a specific input about the presence of Naxalites in Kottalendra in a bid to carry out a major attack on National Highway-30 (connecting Sukma town to Konta), a joint team of personnel from Konta and Errabor police stations and District Reserve Guard (DRG) was dispatched in the area, Sukma Superintendent of Police Sunil Sharma said.
When the patrolling team was cordoning off the forest area near Kottalendra, an exchange of fire broke out between the two sides, he said. After they found the security personnel zeroing in on them, the Naxalites escaped from the spot, he said.
"Five Naxalites were apprehended from the spot while trying to flee," Sharma added. Four-five Naxalites sustained injuries in the encounter but their colleagues managed to drag them inside the forest, he said. The search operation was still underway in the area, he added.