The Special Operation Group (SOG), an elite Commando unit of the Odisha police, on Thursday gunned down a maoist cadre of outlawed the Communist Party of India (Maoist) outfit in a dense forest area along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border in Malkangiri district, said a senior police official.
The rebel was killed in an intelligence-based operation and the rebels were in their hideout in the mountainous terrains when the operation was launched to flush out the Maoists, said the official.
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The gun battle is still continuing while a Jawan of the SOG has been injured in the exchange of fire. The injured Jawan shifted to Malkangiri district headquarters hospital is stated to be critical.
The rebels of the outlawed outfit are heading towards Odisha after an intense crackdown on the naxals in the recent past. Odisha police later acting in ground-level feedback on the intrusion of left wing extremists swung into action, resulting in the exchange of fire, confided an official.
Details of the anti-naxal operation are still awaited, police said, adding that a huge cache of arms and live ammunition has been seized during the combing operation.
Taking advantage of the topographical isolation of the cut-off area, the Maoists had established their base to operate from Malkangiri, regarded as the hub of Naxals in Odisha.
The construction of Machhkund and Balimela multi-purpose irrigation and hydroelectricity projects in the sixties and eighties had altered the topography of the region and the place remained cut off from the mainland. It had provided the Maoists to flourish due to seclusion of the place and unleash a reign of terror.
