Two CRPF CoBRA commandos have been decorated with the Shaurya Chakra for an anti-Naxal operation in Jharkhand's Latehar that led to the killing of six Maoist cadres besides the recovery of a heavy assortment of arms and ammunition in 2016.
Assistant Commandant Vikash Jakhar and Sub-Inspector Riyaz Alam Ansari belonged to the 209th battalion of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), a special CRPF unit raised for conducting intelligence-based jungle warfare and counter-insurgency operations.
The Shaurya Chakra is the third highest peacetime military decoration after the Ashoka Chakra and the Kirti Chakra.
Ansari was part of the raid team led by Jakhar which killed six Naxals, including sub-zonal commander of the area Deepak Khairwar and Nagendra Yadav, after a fierce gun battle between the two sides in the jungles of Karamdih village in Latehar district on 21 November, 2016.
A small team of these commandos had a close encounter with a strong squad of Maoists near the Koel river, right on the Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand border.
Jakhar, his citation said, "displayed exceptional leadership qualities, raw grit and moral and physical courage risking his own life during the operation." Similarly, Ansari's citation said he displayed "a spirit of selfless sacrifice and sterling qualities of a leader in keeping with the highest traditions of the force".
The CoBRA team of the Central Reserve Police Force, at the end of the operation, also recovered a good cache of arms and ammunition besides recovering the bodies of six Naxals.
Few more Naxals were suspected to have been killed in this operation.
The CRPF, lead force for anti-Naxal operations in the country, has won won police and military gallantry medals for the past many years for their exploits.
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