Jamshedpur, Nov. 10: At least three members of an armed Maoists’ squad today sustained injuries during an encounter with a joint combing team of police near Barunia in Ghatshila sub-division of East Singhbhum district today.

The patrolling team opened fire around 11am today after the Maoists started firing at them. The men in uniform recovered two pistols, a rifle, six grenades, 50 detonators, nine haversacks, a can bomb and food from the spot of exchange of fire. The rebels, according to the police, can flee towards Mayurbhanj district in Orissa, barely 3km from the spot of encounter.

According to Naveen Kumar Singh, the East Singhbhum superintendent of police, the encounter took place when the rebels attacked a small contingent of district armed police and Jharkhand Armed Police while it was conducting long range patrolling (LRP) at Satpatra jungle in Dumaria this morning.

“As soon as the rebels opened fire, the jawans retaliated and forced the Naxalites to retreat towards a dense jungle. The jawans chased the rebels further into the jurisdiction of Orissa, which is just 3km away from the place of occurrence,” said the superintendent of police.

“The rebels, who were about 15 in number, were fired intermittently till they disappeared into the jungle,” said Singh.

“Since some of the Naxalites are injured, the Maoists’ squad will not be able to go far away. The police contingent is trying to nail them,” the superintendent of police said, adding that this was the second major achievement in the anti-insurgency combat by the district police in the past 48 hours.

Singh said he had alerted the Orissa police to back up the operation while the contingent of district police and Jharkhand Armed Police was pushing the rebels into the jungle.