The Indian cricket fraternity paid their respects to families of 22 jawans who were martyred in an encounter with Naxalites in Chhattisgarh’s Jonaguda.

Atleast 22 security personnel were killed, 32 injured and one jawan was reportedly missing in a four-hour-long encounter with Maoists that took place on Saturday afternoon near Jonaguda village, Sukma.

India Today reported the intelligence on the presence of prized Maoist leader Hidma was most likely a trap, as Naxals ambushed security forces on the border of Sukma and Bijapur on Saturday, killing 22 jawans.

After attacking the security personnel during an encounter, Naxals decamped with weapons from the dead soldiers. The Naxals also fled with bulletproof jackets, guns, ammunition, and shoes.

Personnel belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), the District Reserve Guard (DRG), and the Special Task Force (STF) were involved in the operation launched from five places - Tarrem, Usoor and Pamed (in Bijapur), and Minpa and Narsapuram (in Sukma).

President Ramnath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and home minister Amit Shah paid tributes to the fallen security personnel, saying that their sacrifices will never be forgotten.

Apart from this, the Indian cricket fraternity also took to Twitter to condole the demise of Indian security personnel in the encounter against Naxals and paid tributes on Twitter.

Here are the tweets: