At least 29 Maoists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Bastar’s Kanker district on Tuesday, said a senior official of the Chhattisgarh Police.
Three security personnel have sustained injuries in the gunfight and their condition is out of danger, the official added. The injured jawans are being airlifted to higher center for better treatment. Seven AK-47 rifles and three Light Machine Guns (LMG) have also been recovered from the spot.
Police said the gunfight took place in a forest near Binagunda village under Chhotebethiya police station when a joint team of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on an anti-Naxal operation.
The BSF in its statement said, “While the operation was still under progress, the BSF team came under fire from CPI Maoist cadres, and BSF troops effectively retaliated against them. During the encounter, one BSF personnel sustained bullet injury on his leg and is out of danger after being evacuated.”
“We have two inputs for the gathering of senior cadres of North Bastar Division of CPI (Maoist). The operation was launched in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday by BSF and DRG. A team of joint force of 185 personnel reached Kalpar jungles at around 1.30pm on Tuesday when Maoists started firing in which BSF sub-inspector Ramesh Chandra sustained injuries. The BSF retaliated with fierce firing which was a game changer and most of Maoists were killed in that firing,” said a senior official of BSF.
The officer further said state police immediately sent reinforcement to the spot.
“The Maoists were cordoned off from direction which reduced their chances to flee into the jungles. The west side was cordoned off by forces which were sent for reinforcement and on the north there was nullah. Because of the thoughtful reinforcement Maoists faced maximum loss with minimum injuries of security forces,” said the official.
Kanker Lok Sabha constituency will vote in the second phase of elections on April 26.
With the latest encounter, 68 Maoists have been killed so far since December 2023 in separate encounters with security forces in Bastar region, comprising seven districts including Kanker , according to police. The government records say that 17 civilians and 6 security personnel have been killed since January 2024.
It is worth mentioning that in 2023, a total of 70 Maoist-Police encounters took place in which a total of 22 Maoists were killed and 394 were arrested as per government records. Forty-two civilians were killed during the same period.
“This encounter shows that the security forces are aggressive on the operational level and doing well. In the last seven years we have established several security camps in forward areas of Maoists which are giving operational success. Now the forces have to move less for operations which is also a game changer, said DM Awasthi, former director general of police (DGP), Chhattisgarh.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has congratulated the security forces for the success and claimed that Bastar will be Maoist-free within a few years.
“The BJP government is working as per the promise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who promised to make Chhattisgarh naxal-free within a few years. This is a great success of security forces fighting against the Maoists,” said Ajay Chandrakar, chief spokesperson of the BJP.
Congress chief spokesperson Shushil Anand Shukla said, “Indeed, it is a huge success for security forces. The Congress party will support every move of the BJP government which will eradicate Maoism from the state.”