12 naxals shot down by police in Jharkhand

In a pre-dawn operation, the police and the CRPF shot down 12 suspected naxalites at the Palamau district in Jharkhand. The incident occurred at 2.30 AM on Tuesday.

The police received a tip off regarding the movement of the naxals. However the naxals retaliated upon being cornered which led to the shooting down of 12 of them, sources informed.

Arms recovered:

The police have recovered arms and ammunition from the naxals. Sources say that they had sophisticated arms on them and were attempting to move it to a safe location.

The naxals had been planning a major strike against the police since the past couple of weeks. There was heightened movement of the naxals and they were trying to move into a safe location before attempting to launch a strike.

However the state intelligence bureau in Jharkhand intercepted the movements of these naxals and tipped the police off. A police party was immediately pressed into service to track these naxals.

The police had tried to get the naxals to surrender, but sources say that there was retaliation which led to the firing. The recovery of the sophisticated arms from the naxals is an indicator that they had been planning a major strike, sources also tell OneIndia.

Palamau district a hot naxal belt:

The Palamau district in Jharkhand has been a hot naxal belt. It is considered to be one of the most sensitive areas in the state. Naxals have in fact managed to set up several of their camps in this district.

In the past few years, the naxals have launched a massive membership drive in Palamau. It was reported that the naxals had even recruited children in the age group of 10 15 years. The children who were recruited was trained to keep a watch on police movement in the area.

In Palamau there have been various incidents in which the naxals have tried to target the police and other security forces. They have even tried to disrupt the election process several times. During the polls held to the Lok Sabha in 2014, they had planted several land mines around polling booths, but the police managed to neutralize them.