Security personnel on Wednesday found a huge cache of arms and ammunition from a Maoist hideout following a raid and an encounter that lasted for nearly eight hours in the forest of Bagdashwa of Banka district.

Though the police said no casualty was reported during the encounter, some officers claimed in the force said some of the rebels could have suffered injuries as stains of blood had been spotted in the forest.

Sources said a joint team of police and CRPF personnel launched the anti-Maoist operation in some select pockets of Banka after the rebels threatened to carry out strikes in the district to protest the cops’ alleged highhandedness against the villagers.

Acting on a tip-off, the team raided Bagdashwa forest covers, about 25km from the Belhar block headquarters near Jhajha block of Jamui district around 3am.

Belhar is over 50 km from the Banka district headquarters.

B.K. Das, the deputy superintendent of police, Banka headquarters, said as soon as the security team reached Mallahatari village early in the morning and proceeded towards the forest, the rebels started firing at them.

“It was initially very difficult for the police to reach to the spot because it was completely dark. Besides, the topography of the forest is inaccessible. But we managed to manoeuvre our way and retaliated,” the deputy superintendent of police added.

Das further said though the security personnel managed to penetrate into the forest area after sunrise, they could not spot any rebel in the area.

“We had to proceed very carefully because the rebels were firing from the opposite direction. We retaliated and the encounter continued till 11am. There were, however, some sporadic firing by the rebels around 1pm,” an officer of the CRPF’s 131st battalion said.

Superintendent of police (Banka) Vikash Barman, who was still inside the forest area, for the search operation, said: “We are safe and the operation is still going on. There has been no casualty on either side,” he told The Telegraph over phone.

The officer refused to say anything about the number of rebels inside the forest area.

He said the two rifles (one of which was stolen from the police earlier), over 50 cartridges, 1kg explosive, 14 grenades, 20 detonators, 12 gelatin sticks, five bombs and some Naxalite books, posters and banners were found at the encounter site.

“The explosive, bombs and grenades were kept inside some containers that were green in colour. The containers were hidden in bushes,” the CRPF officer said.

He added: “Search operations are going on and we suspect that over 35 armed rebels were present inside the forest. We do not also rule out the possibility of the rebels fleeing to neighbouring Jamui. But we think that some of them have been injured during the encounter.”