Naxal ambush; 5 bodies recovered,33 Greyhound still missing

Bhubaneswar, Jul 3 (UNI) The body of a Greyhound jawan and an Orissa police constable were recovered from the Chitrakonda reservoir during rescue operation today, while 33 elite policemen of Andhra Pradesh still remained untraced since the Naxalites ambushed a motorboat carrying Greyhound commandos inside the reservoir on June 29.

Malkangiri Superintendent of Police S K Gajabhiye told UNI over phone that the rescue-search and combing operation launched jointly by the Andhra Pradesh and Orissa police since Sunday had so far retrieved five bodies, four of them Greyhound commandos and a constable of Orissa police.

The bodies of the Greyhound commandos were airlifted to Visakhapatnam. The body of the Orissa constable has been identified as Ranjan Khora, he said.

The rescue team has already located the boat which had capsized following heavy exchange of firing on June 29 inside the reservoir.

The sonar equipment used by the rescue team from the Navy and ONGC had located the boat but found it difficult to retrieve from the 40 meters deep water.

Besides the five bodies, the police have recovered two Insas, one SLR, one LMG and one AK 47 rifle from the reservoir.

The police apprehended that some cops might have been trapped inside the boat as it was overcrowded when it overturned.

More UNI DP KK/src1640