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12 Maoists gunned down in major encounter in Bijapur

The encounter began at 9 am and intermittent firing continued late into Thursday evening

This takes the total number of Maoists killed in different security operations since the beginning of this year to 14. (File Photo)

Twelve Maoists have been gunned down in a major encounter with security forces in the forests of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh’s Maoist-hit Bastar Thursday morning, security sources said.

According to security sources, a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) from three districts of Sukma, Bijapur and Dantewada and five units of elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and a battalion of the CRPF were acting on intelligence inputs on the presence of Maoists in jungles of south Bastar. The encounter began at 9 am, and intermittent continued till Thursday night, sources, adding that it was a massive operation that involved “over 1,000 security personnel”.

This takes the total number of Maoists killed in different security operations since the beginning of this year to 14. On January 6, eight jawans and a civilian were killed when a command IED weighing over 40 kgs ripped through their SUV on Kutru-Bedre road in Bijapur.

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In a separate incident from the district Thursday, two CRPF jawans suffered injuries after one of them stepped on a pressure IED while they were on an “area domination exercise” in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh’s most Maoist-affected district.

Bijapur Additional Superintendent of Police Chandrakant Governa said that the injured jawans have been evacuated and that “they are in a stable condition and out of danger.”

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