TV
At least nine Maoists were killed by security forces in a 36-hour-long anti-Naxal operation conducted in the forests along the border of Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada and Bijapur districts on Tuesday.
As per reports, the search operation is still going on.
“After receiving intelligence inputs about the presence of a large number of Maoists in the border area of Dantewada and Bijapur districts of Bastar division of Chhattisgarh, a joint team of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) was sent on a search operation in the area.”
“Around 400 jawans took part in the search operation. During this operation, an encounter took place between the security forces and the Maoists in the morning. After the encounter, the Maoists retreated and the bodies of nine of them have been recovered from the spot. Apart from this, a self-loading rifle-SLR as well as two other rifles have also been recovered from the spot. Besides, a huge cache of weapons was also seized from the encounter site. We have also destroyed Maoists camps in the operation,” said Dantewada SP Gaurav Rai.
“Naxals from four different divisions were active in the area. A Naxal named Randhir with 25 lakh bounty on his head was also present there. Security personnel are safe and the search operation is still underway in the area,” Rai further said.
“The West Bastar divisional committee along the Dantewada-Bijapur inter-district border areas is a stronghold of the Maoists. A major setback for Maoists in this area would certainly provide a breakthrough for security forces. It is time for the Naxal cadres to shun violence and join the mainstream. We are committed to achieve the target to wipe out the Maoist menace in the country within the deadline given by the Home Minister. We will continue more Naxal operations in future,” he added.
