Raipur: A doctor who performed autopsies of the 26 security personnel killed in a Maoist ambush in Chhattisgargh on Tuesday, said that at least 10 men had their hands and legs chopped off and throats slit.
"All the 26 bodies were bullet-ridden, but we found some 10 bodies with heads smashed, legs and hands chopped off and throats slit. These extreme brutalities were surely committed after the men fell to Maoist bullets," one of the doctors who carried out the autopsy said yesterday.
At least 24 troopers of the 39th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), one state policeman and a special police officer (SPO) were massacred on Tuesday when Maoist rebels ambushed them in a forested pocket in Narayanpur district of the restive Bastar region.
Air force helicopters transported the 26 bodies on Wednesday from Narayanpur to state capital Raipur and doctors took almost seven hours to complete the post-mortem examination at Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Government Medical College and Hospital.
Officials at the police headquarters here say that the Maoists probably carried out brutalities on those security personnel who inflicted the maximum damage on the rebel ranks during the three-hour exchange of fire.
Additional Director General of Police Ram Niwas said: "The jawans [troopers] fought bravely against the heavily armed Maoists. Though we didn't recover any bodies of the rebels at the attack site, we strongly feel that some 15-20 Maoists were killed in the gun battle."
Meanwhile, normal life was hit in the forested interiors of Chhattisgarh yesterday, the second day of the two-day shutdown in five states called by the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist).
Security has been tightened in Maoist-affected areas, mainly in the state's Bastar region.
