A gunfight has erupted between the Kerala Police's specialised team Thunderbolt and Maoists in a forest area in Kannur, reported PTI citing police on Monday. The officials stated that the incident was reported from the Karikkottakari police station limits. "It (firing) is still underway", a police officer told PTI.
This comes just days after an exchange of fire between Thunderbolt and Maoists took place in a forest area in Wayanad last week, leading to the arrest of two ultras.
Last week, an encounter broke out between the same special forces team and Maoists in Wayanad on Tuesday night in a forest area under the limits of Thalappuzha police. The fight erupted after the police team launched a combing operation in the area based on intelligence inputs received from a Maoist sympathiser apprehended earlier in the day in neighbouring Kozhikode district, a PTI report added.
Maoists had opened fire at the Special Operation Group (SOG) and the Thunderbolt Squad. Police said during the operation, they apprehended two Maoists, a man and a woman, who were identified as Chandru and Unnimaya. PTI stated that three other members managed to flee.
Forces recovered an AK-47 assault rifle and two country-made breach-loading shotguns from the suspects. Notably, the Thunderbolts team had been deployed in an area domination exercise in the region, after local people told about the presence of armed non-state actors in Kambala and nearby regions, stated a report in The Hindu.
Helicopters and drones were deployed in the area to conduct an aerial survey of the locality in October. Police said the alleged Maoists sourced provisions from a tea-estate settlement in the locality. The report further mentioned that the group was subsequently tentatively identified as the Communist Party of India (Maoist) Kabani area committee. The police suspect that some armed irregulars had managed to break the siege and flee in the cover of relative darkness.