Ten alleged Naxalites, including a woman cadre, were killed in a gunbattle with security personnel in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, said the police. The incident marks the biggest encounter in the last ten years in terms of casualties inflicted by the security forces in the State.
The incident took place around 6 a.m. in a forest between Lendra and Korcholi villages under Gangaloor police station area of Bijapur, when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxal operation, said Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) P. Sundarraj.
The team, comprising personnel from the District Reserve Guard, Special Task Force, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), was involved in the operation as a gun battle ensued between the two sides, he added.
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The police team initially recovered four bodies but as searches continued, six more bodies were found at the encounter site. Mr. Sundarraj said that based on the number of bodies recovered, this was the highest number of Naxalites killed in a single police encounter in the last ten years.
Arms and ammunitions, including a light machine gun (LMG), one .303 rifle, one 12 bore gun and a large number of barrel grenade launchers and its shells*,* were also purportedly recovered from the spot.
“The identity of the naxalites was yet to be ascertained but prima facie it seems that they belonged to PLGA (Peoples’ Liberation Guerilla Army) company no. 2 of Maoists,” said Mr. Sundarraj.
According to the police, so far in the year 2024, bodies of 43 Maoists have been recovered after the encounter. Out of those 27 were killed in Bijapur, a district that is a part of the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency that goes to polls in the first phase of the elections on April 19.
Apart from the casualties inflicted by security forces in the Bastar region, 181 Maoists have been arrested and 120 Maoists have surrendered. “Intelligence-based anti-Naxal operations will continue regularly to curb the anti-people and non-human violent activities of the Maoists, which will not only protect the life and property of the people of Bastar region but will also ensure better peace, security and overall development in the region,” Mr. Sundarraj added.
On March 27, six Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces in Basaguda area of Bijapur, police earlier said.
