Raipur, September 27: Security forces in Chhattisgarh have destroyed a Maoist “ordnance factory” engaged in manufacturing weapons and explosives in Sukma district, police said on Saturday.
Acting on intelligence inputs, a joint team of the Sukma District Force and the 203rd battalion of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), an elite Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) unit, located the facility on a forested hill near Koimenta village on Friday.
The search operation, launched from the Metaguda camp, uncovered a large cache of arms-making equipment. Seized items included one vertical milling machine, two barrel grenade launchers (BGL), 12 empty BGL shells, 94 BGL heads, one hand grinder, six wooden rifle butts, two trigger mechanisms, four solar batteries, a 10-foot borewell drilling bit, two gas cutter heads, three directional IED pipes, six metal moulding pots, six iron cutter wheels, 80 steel pipe pieces for BGL, iron scraps, and other material.
“All security personnel returned safely to base after completing the operation. Such action will intensify further in the future. Continuous anti-Naxal operations have caused significant damage to the Maoists’ capabilities,” a police official said.
According to police data, 249 Naxalites have been killed in separate encounters across Chhattisgarh so far this year. The most significant was the killing of Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, 70, general secretary and top operative of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist), along with five central committee members.
Of the total, 220 were killed in the Bastar division, which includes seven districts such as Sukma. Another 27 were killed in Gariaband district under the Raipur division, while two more were eliminated in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district in Durg division, police said.
