“At least six alleged Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur on Wednesday morning [March 27],” police said.
“The deceased include two women cadres and there is a possibility of more Maoists getting injured,” the police added.
“The gunfight took place in the forest areas of Chikurbhatti and Pusbaka villages under Basaguda police station area, when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-naxal operation,” according to Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) P. Sundarraj.
A police statement added that the personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Central Reserve Police Force, and its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) were involved in the operation.
Later the police purportedly recovered the bodies and a large quantity of arms and ammunition, besides items of daily use. The search operation is still under way.
The spot where the exchange of fire took place is a part of the Bastar constituency which will go into polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections. The anti-Naxal operation in the left wing extremism affected area of Bastar has been intensified since a change of government late last year. So far in 2023, nearly three dozen Maoists have been killed.
