On Thursday morning, a gunfight erupted between a joint team of security personnel and Naxalites in the forested area along the Narayanpur-Bijapur inter-district border in Chhattisgarh, resulting in the deaths of at least seven Naxalites, according to police reports.
The clash began around 11 am during an anti-Naxal operation conducted by a combined force, and intermittent firing continued, stated Narayanpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Prabhat Kumar. The security operation involved the District Reserve Guard units from Dantewada, Narayanpur, and Bastar districts, as well as Bastar Fighters and the Special Task Force, all branches of the state police.
The operation was initiated based on intelligence regarding the presence of cadres from the Maoists' Indravati Area Committee and Platoon No. 16. During the exchange of fire, seven Naxalites in "Maoist uniform" were killed, and seven firearms were recovered from the site, as confirmed by SP Kumar.
The operation is ongoing, and further details are awaited. This incident brings the total number of Naxalites killed in encounters with security forces in Chhattisgarh this year to 112.
In previous operations, ten Naxalites, including three women, were killed in an encounter along the Narayanpur-Kanker district border on April 30. Additionally, on April 16, security forces eliminated 29 Naxalites in Kanker district. Another significant encounter occurred on May 10, when 12 Naxalites were killed near Pidia village in Bijapur district. However, local villagers and activists later claimed that those killed in the Pidia encounter were not Naxalites and suggested the encounter might have been staged.
