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 shot 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, the police said, 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 patrolling 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,” Singh said.

“The rebels, who were about 15 in number, were fired intermittently till they disappeared in the jungle,” said Singh, adding reinforcement was sent to Dumaria as soon as the news of the encounter reached the district headquarters. He said unlike previous occasions, the police contingent engaged in the encounter did not return to the post after the encounter but chased the rebels deep into the woods.

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

Singh said he had alerted the Orissa police as the police contingents were pushing the rebels into the jungle.