The final push to flush out Maoists from Lalgarh started on Friday, with stiff resistance from armed rebels. The Goaltore-Kadasole area — another approach road to Lalgarh — turned into a full-fledged battleground, with mine explosions and exchange of fire between security forces and the Maoists.

The joint forces of the state and the Centre could cover only about 6 km of the stretch of road leading to Lalgarh after almost nine hours of intermittent fighting with the Maoists. Lalgarh was still 21 km away from this spot.

The security forces were targeted with IEDs and gunfire in jungle tracts, forcing the CRPF to retaliate with mortar shells. “There were seven improvised mines on the road along which the troops marched today. Two of these exploded but luckily no one was injured. Our bomb detection squads defused five other IEDs. We also faced fire from the Maoists squads, who fled the area,” said Siddhinath Gupta, IG CID, who was in charge of the operations from the Goaltore side.

“Our jawans retaliated. Since the operation also took on the edge of villages, we had to take all care so that civilians were not caught in crossfire. We have good coordination with the state forces,” said B R Kamath, Range DIG CRPF. No resistance came from the villagers and there were no casualties on either side.

The operations started from Goaltore around 8 am with the 66 Battalion of CRPF leading the troops. The first resistance came at Pingboni around 2 km from Goaltore, where a landmine exploded on the road.

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