Twenty-two Maoists killed in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur, say police

Jawans returning from the encounter site after the encounter in the forest area at Bijapur-Dantewada border, in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur. File photo
| Photo Credit: ANI

Twenty-two Maoists were killed by security forces on Wednesday in a major anti-Naxal operation being conducted along the Karegutta hills in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur, a senior police officer said.

The “decisive counter-insurgency initiative”, named ‘Operation Sankalp’, on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, has been underway since April 21, and the latest development takes the total number of alleged Maoists killed so far in the operation to 26, the officer said. Of the 26 killed so far, one Maoist was killed on May 5, while three others were killed on April 24.

More than 28,000 troops from different units, including the District Reserve Guard, Bastar Fighters, Special Task Force, all units of the State Police, and the Central Reserve Police Force and its elite CoBRA unit are involved in Operation Sankalp. The campaign was launched in a zone that is understood to be the shelter of senior-level Maoist cadres, and one that is guarded by Battalion Number 1, the strongest military formation of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army or PLGA.

The PLGA is the armed unit of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). Sources in the police added that in the 18 days, around 35 encounters have taken place between the police and the Maoists.

According to police sources, in the given period, around 40 weapons had been recovered besides two tonnes of explosive materials, and 400 improvised explosive devices or IEDs. The cumulative weight of recoveries, including of food grains, other ration items, uniforms, and medicines, amounts to six tonnes, an official said.

“Hundreds of Naxal hideouts and bunkers have been destroyed so far during the operation,” the official said.

With the latest action, 168 Naxalites have been gunned down in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year. Of them, 151 were eliminated in the Bastar division, comprising seven districts, including Bijapur.

In a related development on Wednesday, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai held a review meeting of the Home Department in his office. Mr. Sai received updates from officials on the ongoing encounter of the security forces against Naxalites on Karregutta hill in Bijapur district, and discussed future strategy, according to a government statement released in the evening.