Suspected Naxals on Friday opened fire at an IAF helicopter near Temelwara, in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, forcing it to land in neighbouring Dantewada district’s Chintalnar forest, considered a Maoist stronghold, police sources said.
According to a senior police officer in south Bastar, the incident occurred at around 5 pm when the helicopter, flying from Jagdalpur in Bastar district to Temelwara to evacuate jawans of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) injured in a Maoist ambush near Polampalli, in Sukma district, was shot at by Naxals when it was about to land at Temelwara. The MI-17 helicopter then abandoned its plan to land at Temelwara and force-landed in Chintalnar forest.
“The MI-17 copter went off the radar near Temelwara. We restored contact with the crew members of the missing helicopter after nearly one and a half hours. CRPF jawans (of the Cobra Battalion), dispatched from nearby Dornapal and Chintalgufa camps, have reached the spot and cordoned off the copter. All the crew members are safe,” Sukma district additional superintendent of police H.R. Bhagat said.
Meanwhile, sources at police headquarters in Raipur said one CAF jawan was killed and two others injured when a road opening party of CAF personnel was ambushed by Naxals at Kusabada, near Temelwara, at around 4 pm. Reports reaching police headquarters at around 8.30 pm said the three crew members of the helicopter — pilot, co-pilot and a guard — reached Chintagufa police station after walking nearly three km from the site of the emergency landing. However, there were no reports on the injured CAF jawans.
The IAF Mi-17 helicopter had seven persons on board. The Naxal fire resulted in failure of hydraulic systems and generators on the helicopter. CRPF sources said one CGAP jawan on board the IAF copter was injured in the Naxal firing. The MHA has also announced a reward of `5 lakh for the Cobra team that secured the helicopter. MHA officials in New Delhi claimed that as per preliminary feedback received, the IAF copter was flying at a “dangerously low height” when it was hit and had to force-land in the forested area. But this was denied by the IAF which clarified that the helicopter was to land shortly when it was fired upon by Naxals. MHA officials also claimed the helicopter could not land initially as it developed a technical snag but IAF sources said this claim was entirely baseless. According to reports received by the MHA, a wireless operator of the CGAP force, who was on board along with six other security personnel, was hit by a bullet in the leg. “It appears that the Maoists fired from a pistol from a hilltop but we are yet to get a final report,” an MHA official said.