In a first, UAV used to record gunfight with Naxals in C’garh
VijaitaSingh : New Delhi
Security agencies for the first time used an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to record the Tuesday encounter in Chhattisgarh where nine Maoists, including five women, were allegedly killed.
An official said the footage from the UAV showed the Maoists fleeing the encounter site on a tractor and children and women of nearby villages being used as “human shield” to form a protective ring around the vehicle. It also showed women and children being held at gunpoint by the Maoists fleeing the encounter site, an official claimed.
“It is an old tactic adopted by the Maoists to use children and women as shields, but we have recorded this for the first time. The video shows them snatching women and children and holding them at gunpoint,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity.
The Maoists had increased recruitment of women cadres. The security forces have come to know that during operations when the group is attacked, the women cadres are pushed to the front. “It was the women who were leading the group and they fired the maximum at the security personnel,” said the official.
