Bijapur/Kanker: In a fresh offensive against Naxals, security forces killed at least 30 members of the banned CPI (Maoists) in two separate encounters in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region on Thursday, officials said.
While 26 Naxalites were killed in the Bijapur district, four Maoists were gunned down in Kanker by a joint team of the BSF and District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel of the state police.
A police jawan was also killed in the encounter in Bijapur, the officials said.
The gunfight broke out at around 7 am in a forest along the border of the Bijapur and Dantewada districts when a joint team of security personnel was out an anti-Naxalite operation in the Gangaloor police station area (in Bijapur), he said.
Bodies of 18 Naxalites, along with firearms and explosives, were recovered from the spot, the senior police official said.
A jawan of the state police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) unit was also killed in the gunfight, he said.
The operation was still underway in the area, he added.
