ecurity forces killed at least 22 Naxalites in two separate encounters in Chhattisgarh on Thursday, according to police and sources. Of these 22 Naxalites, 18 were killed in the Bijapur district and four were eliminated in Kanker.
In the Bijapur encounter, a joint team launched an anti-Naxalite operation in the Gangalur police station area and a gunfight erupted between the Naxalites and security forces at 07:00 am on Thursday. A District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawan was martyred in the operation.
Security personnel recovered the bodies of 18 Naxalites in the area, along with a large quantity of weapons and ammunition. A search operation in the area is currently underway.
In the Kanker district, four Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces near the Koroskodo village in Chhotebethiya police station area today.
Earlier, a team of security forces had a narrow escape when Naxalites detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district on Thursday. No serious harm was reported in the blast but two policemen were evacuated from the area for treatment.
The incident took place at around 3 am in Abujhmaad area when a joint team of the Chhattisgarh Police’s DRG unit and Special Task Force (STF) was out on an anti-Naxal operation, a police official said.
Prior to this, three Naxalites surrendered before security personnel in the Sukma district on Tuesday, two of them carrying a cumulative reward of Rs 4 lakh. Madkam Erra Babu (26), Sodi Deva (35) and Madkam Hadma (41) turned themselves in before security personnel, citing “inhuman and hollow” Maoist ideology, an official said.
