6 Maoists killed in fierce gunfight in Bijapur: Chhattisgarh Police

The gunfight began around 10 am in the Indravati National Park area during an anti-Naxal operation launched by a joint team of security personnel

RAIPUR: Six Maoists have been killed in a fierce gunfight with security personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Tuesday, police said.

Security personnel during an encounter with operation with Maoists in Chhattisgarh (PTI FILE)

The gunfight began around 10 am in the Indravati National Park area during an anti-Naxal operation launched by a joint team of security personnel following intelligence inputs about the presence of senior Maoist cadres in the area.

Bijapur superintendent of police (SP) Jitendra Yadav said personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) of Bijapur and Dantewada districts and the Special Task Force (STF) took part in the operation, he said. The exchange of fire continued intermittently for several hours.

“During a search of the encounter site, security forces retrieved bodies of six Maoists along with automatic weapons, including an INSAS rifle, a Sten gun, a .303 rifle, and explosives, “ Yadav said.

The SP said the six Maoists were yet to be identified.

Additional teams of central and state police forces have been deployed in the area.

The operation is still underway, he added.

Tuesday’s encounter raises the total number of Maoists killed this year to 259. Of them, 230 were eliminated in the Bastar division, while 27 were killed in Gariaband district under the Raipur division, and two in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district in Durg division.

On September 22, two top Maoist leaders, Raju Dada alias Katta Ramachandra Reddy (63) and Kosa Dada alias Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy (67), both Central Committee members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), were killed in Narayanpur district.