Malkangiri (Odisha), Feb 21 (PTI) Ahead of the panchayat polls at Swabhiman Anchal of Malkangiri district, security personnel have recovered a huge dump of explosives suspected to have been buried by Maoist ultras, police said on Monday.
Swabhiman Anchal, considered as a hotbed of Maoists even two years ago, go to polls in the fifth and last phase of panchayat elections in the state on February 24.
Polling was not held in the region in the last rural elections in 2017 due to the strong presence of Maoist ultras there.
Based on intelligence input, security forces on Sunday recovered five firearms, two IEDs, explosive materials, a walky-talky set, Maoist literature and other articles from a jungle near Nadmenjeri village under Jodambo police station, Malkangiri SP P Nitish Wadhani said.
It is suspected that these articles belong to Maoist cadres who wanted to target villagers and police teams during the panchayat election, he said.
“In the wake of the recovery, further combing operations are going on in the area, the SP said. PTI COR AAM NN NN
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