Kerala Police engage suspected Maoists in gun battle in rural Kannur

Thunderbolts special forces team seized 3 guns from suspected Maoists in Kannur firefight. No casualties/injuries reported, but police searching hospitals/clinics & inspecting vehicles. Earlier, police engaged Maoists in Wayanad, arresting 2 & seizing AK-47 & 2 shotguns. Suspected Maoists escaped.

A firefight broke out between a Kerala Police Thunderbolts special forces team and suspected Maoists early on November 13, 2023 at Uruppumkutty at Karikkottakary, a small town located approximately 12 km east of Iritty, in Kannur of Kerala.

A top official said the team recovered three guns, possibly breach-loading country-made weapons, abandoned by the armed irregulars.

He said the police also found some bloodstains near the locality. So far, there have been no reports of any causalities or injuries, he added.

Nevertheless, plainclothes officers have fanned out in the locality, scouring hospitals and clinics in Kannur and Mangalapuram in neighbouring Karnataka for any recent admissions with injuries. The police were also inspecting vehicles traversing the Kannur-Mangaluru route and alerted their Karnataka counterparts.

The Thunderbolts had engaged suspected Maoists in a gun battle at Thalappuzha, near Periya, in Wayanad district on November 8, 2023.

The close-quarter engagement led to the arrest of two armed irregulars. The police identified them as Chandru and Unnimaya, both allegedly top cadres of the Banasura Dalam of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The police also seized an AK-47 assault rifle and two country-made shotguns.

At least three suspected Maoists had broken out of the police siege and escaped. However, the police were unclear whether the armed irregulars in Kannur were remnants of the Maoist group the police had engaged in Wayanad.