4 Naxals, police personnel killed in anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar

Four Naxals were killed during a joint anti-Naxal search operation in the South Abujmarh forest area at the Narayanpur-Dantewada district border of Chhattisgarh, said Inspector General of Bastar, P Sundarraj.

Sundarraj said Head Constable Sannu Karam of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was also killed in action during the operation.

The operation was conducted by the Special Task Force (STF) in coordination with DRG teams from Narayanpur, Dantewada, Jagdalpur, and Kondagaon districts in the Abujmarh area on Friday, the IG Bastar added.

The encounter, which began on Saturday evening, resulted in the deaths of four uniformed Naxals. Automatic weapons, including AK-47s and SLRs, were recovered during the search, Sundarraj stated.

Search operations are still underway, and further details are awaited.

Following the exchange of fire, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai stressed that security forces have been giving a befitting reply in their fight against left-wing extremism hours after four Naxals were killed earlier on Sunday.

"Our security forces have been strongly fighting Naxals and the double-engine government is also benefitting us... I wish peace for the officer who was martyred...," CM Sai told news ANI.

Meanwhile, as many as 11 Naxalites, including Vimla Chandra Sidam alias Tarakka, who carried a bounty of ₹1 crore, surrendered before the police in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli earlier in the month.

The 11 Naxalites, including 8 women and 3 men, surrendered at Gadchiroli Police Headquarters. They had bounties totalling more than ₹1 crore on their heads. The Chhattisgarh government had also announced a bounty on them.

Among the surrendered was Tarakka Sidam, the head of the Dandakaranya Zonal Committee and wife of Bhupati, who had been involved in Naxalism for 34 years.

The surrendered Naxalites included three division committee members, one deputy commander, and two area committee members. Each of them was provided with a financial aid package worth ₹86 lakh to support their new lives.

(With inputs from ANI)