In Chhattisgarh, after yesterday’s encounter, security forces have recovered the bodies of 12 Maoists from the spot. These include five female Maoists. The encounter took place yesterday in the Pamed and Basaguda areas of the Bijapur district.
Intermittent firing continued between security forces and Maoists in this area throughout the day. IG of the Central Reserve Police Force, Rakesh Agarwal, said that teams from the CRPF, Cobra Battalion, District Reserve Guard, and Special Task Force were involved in this operation.
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.