Chhattisgarh: In 1st monsoon encounter in Bastar, 2 female Maoists gunned down, weapons recovered
This was the first encounter between Maoists and security forces in Bastar in the current monsoon.
Two female Maoists were on Thursday gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Abujhmad area in Narayanpur district under south Bastar in Chhattisgarh, police said.
This was the first encounter between Maoists and security forces in Bastar in the current monsoon.
According to Narayanpur district superintendent of police (SP) Prabhat Kumar, a joint operation involving personnel of district reserve guard (DRG), special task force (STF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was launched in a forest in Abujhmad on Wednesday, following specific intelligence inputs on the presence of senior cadres of Maoists.
The security forces came under attack by the armed Maoists on Wednesday evening, leading to exchange of fire between them which continued till Thursday morning.
Later, security forces recovered bodies of two women Maoists along with the weapons and explosives at the encounter site, police said.
“Search operations are still continuing in the surrounding forest areas to trace other Maoist cadres who escaped by taking advantage of the dense jungle during the encounter”, Bastar range inspector general of police P Sunderraj said.
The two slain Naxals were identified as Seema, an area committee member (ACM) of Maoists, and Linge alias Ranju, a member of Kutul Local Organizational Squad (LOS) of Naxals, Mr. Kumar said.
While Seema carried a bounty of Rs five lakh, Ranju had a reward of Rs one lakh on her head.
One INSAS rifle, one .315 bore rifle and large quantities of ammunition and explosives were recovered at the encounter site.
The encounter comes amid recent announcement by Union home minister Amit Shah that the anti-Naxal operations will resume even during the monsoon, giving no respite to the Maoists in the rains.
There had been an undeclared ceasefire between security forces and Maoists in Bastar, hitherto, during monsoon since most parts of the tribal-dominated belt remain inaccessible due to floods in the rivers and wild streams in the region during the rainy season.
As many as 414 Maoists have been killed in separate encounters in Bastar so far in the last 18 months.
The slain Maoists included top Naxal leaders such as CPI (Maoist) general secretary Basavaraju alias Ganganna, and Central Committee Member (CCM) Gautam alias Sudhakar.
