Gun Exchange Continues in Dantewada, Body of Naxal Recovered
Maoist was on Friday gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Abujhmad area along the border of Dantewada-Narayanpur districts in south Bastar of Chhattisgarh, police said.
Raipur: A Maoist was on Friday gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Abujhmad area along the border of Dantewada-Narayanpur districts in south Bastar of Chhattisgarh, police said.
A fierce gunbattle between them still continued and more casualties among the Maoists are anticipated, a senior police officer in Dantewada district told this newspaper.
However, the body of a female Maoist along with one .303 rifle and two Barrel Grenade Launchers (BGLs) have so far been recovered, he added.
Sources said at least half-a-dozen Naxals may have been killed in the encounter so far.
“Security forces are still engaged in gunbattle with the Naxals in the jungle and details can be known when they recover all the bodies”, a senior police officer said.
According to the police officer, acting on intelligence inputs on the presence of around 50 armed Maoists belonging to East Bastar Division in the forest in Abujhmad area along the border of Dantewada- Narayanpur districts, a search operation was launched by the security forces.
The encounter between them took place in the morning which continued till the last reports came.
Abujhmad, a 4,000 sq km densely forested area, extends from south Bastar in Chhattisgarh to Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.
Parts of districts of Dantewada, Narayanpur and Kanker in Bastar fall under Abujhmad, loosely translated as ‘unknown area’.
Abujhmad is the only area in the country which has remained un-surveyed so far.
The region has remained inaccessible to the security forces till recently, thus turning it the safe hideout of top Maoist leaders.
CPI (Maoist) general secretary Basavraju was killed in an encounter with security forces in Abujhmad area of Narayanpur district recently.
