Balaghat/Raipur: In a tragic setback during an intensified anti-Naxal operation, Madhya Pradesh’s elite Hawk Force Inspector Ashish Sharma (40) was killed in a fierce encounter with Maoists on the Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border on Wednesday.

The encounter broke out in the dense forests near Kauhapani under Bortalab police station limits in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district. A joint team of Madhya Pradesh Hawk Force and Chhattisgarh Police was conducting a search-and-destroy operation when Maoists suddenly ambushed the party around 7 am.

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According to police officials, the Maoists opened indiscriminate fire from elevated positions. The security personnel immediately retaliated,

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