5 Naxals held after face-off with police

Raipur, Sept 6: Five Naxals were on Sunday arrested and weapons recovered from them after a brief exchange of fire in Chhattisgarh's Balrampur district, police said.

The face-off between a small group of Naxals and a team of local police took place in a dense forest under Raghunathnagar police station limits this morning, Balrampur Superintendent of Police Sadanand Kumar said.

The security personnel were on a patrolling exercise when they were confronted by around 10 armed Maoists near Sonhat village, located in north Chhattisgarh around 350 kms from the state capital.

On finding the police zeroing-in on them after a short gun-battle, the rebels started fleeing from the spot, he said.

However, five cadres were nabbed after a short chase while others managed to escape, the SP said. Five 315 bore rifles, Naxal literature and other Maoist-related material were seized from their possession, he said adding that interrogation of the arrested rebels was on.

PTI