31 Naxals, two cops killed in encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur
RAIPUR, FEB 9 : Around 31 Naxal militants from the banned CPI (Maoist) were killed in an encounter with security forces on Sunday in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, about 400 km south of Raipur, police said.
Two security personnel were killed and two others were injured in the face-off, they said. Both were airlifted by chopper from the encounter site to Raipur for immediate medical attention and are stated to be out of danger.
The gunfight took place at a forest in the Indravati National Park area in the morning when a joint team of personnel from different security forces was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, a senior police official said.
“As per preliminary information, 12 Naxalites were killed in the gunfight. Bodies of all of them have been recovered,” he said.
Two security personnel, one belonging to the state police’s District Reserve Guard and the other from the Special Task Force, were killed in the gunfight and two others suffered injuries, the official said.
“Based on specific information about the presence of armed Maoists at the national park region of Bijapur district, a joint team of security forces comprising District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) left on anti-Maoist operation on Saturday,” said a police officer who further added that the casualty count of the red rebels may rise further.
Efforts are on to retrieve the bodies of the deceased security personnel and evacuate the injured jawans, he said.
The recovered bodies of the cadres of left-wing extremists are yet to be identified. A large cache of weapons and explosives were also recovered from the scene.
Reinforcement has been rushed to the area and the search operation for Maoists has been intensified in the region, which is long considered to be their safe shelter.
Notably, security forces had killed eight Maoist militants in Bijapur on February 1, while around 62 bodies of Maoists have been recovered in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh this year.
The series of encounters against the left-wing extremists remains a part of the renewed strategy to free the Chhattisgarh state from the influence of the outlawed Maoist.
Bijapur remains one of the worst Maoist-affected districts in Bastar and being cited as an epicentre of left-wing extremists in south Chhattisgarh.
-PTI
