On Thursday, seven Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in a forest along Narayanpur-Bijapur inter-district border in Chhattisgarh, police have informed.
At approximately 11 am, a gunfight erupted as a combined team of security forces conducted an anti-Naxal operation. According to Narayanpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Prabhat Kumar, intermittent firing was ongoing at the time of reporting.
Seven Naxalites in “Maoist uniform” have been gunned down in the exchange of fire so far, said the SP.
Superintendent of Police Prabhat Kumar stated that the operation, comprising members from the District Reserve Guard of Dantewada, Narayanpur, and Bastar districts, along with the Bastar Fighters and Special Task Force, all units of the state police, was initiated following intelligence indicating the presence of cadres from the Maoists' Indravati Area Committee and Platoon No. 16.
Altogether, seven firearms have been recovered from the encounter site, he said.
This incident brings the total number of Naxalites killed in separate encounters with security forces in the state to 112 so far this year.
In an encounter that took place on April 30, security forces engaged and eliminated ten Naxalites, among them three women, in a forest situated along the Narayanpur and Kanker districts' border. Before this, on April 16, authorities reported the death of 29 Naxalites during a firefight in Kanker district.
According to reports on May 10, security forces engaged in a gunbattle near Pidia village in Bijapur district, resulting in the elimination of 12 individuals identified as Naxalites. However, conflicting claims emerged from local villagers and activists, asserting that those killed were not Naxalites and suggesting that the encounter had been fabricated.
An Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawan was injured in an accidental fire from a service rifle in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district on Wednesday, a senior police official said.
Manish M, posted as a constable in the ITBP's 53rd battalion, sustained injuries around 9.30 am at the force’s camp in the Narayanpur city, he said.
