Bastar: 28 naxals killed in deadliest encounter

Raipur: In the deadliest counterinsurgency operation in the Leftwing extremism-hit Bastar in Chhattisgarh, security forces on Friday gunned down 28 Naxals in Abujhmad forests in Narayanpur district.

The encounter between security forces and Maoists took place in the Nandur- Thula Thuli forest bordering Orchha in Narayanpur district and Barsur in neighbouring Dantewada district in south Bastar at around one pm and still continued till the last reports came at around 7.30 pm.

“Bodies of 28 Naxals have so far been recovered along with a huge cache of automatic weapons including AK 47 and SLR. The encounter is still going on. Further details on the encounter are awaited”, Bastar range inspector general of police P Sunderraj told this newspaper.

This was the worst setback suffered by the Maoists in terms of casualties at the hands of security forces in the four-decade-long Leftwing extremism in Bastar, police said.

The recovery of automatic weapons such as AK 47 and SLR at the encounter site indicates that several senior Maoist leaders may have been killed in the encounter, a senior police officer said.

According to the police, acting on specific intelligence inputs on the presence of some senior Maoist leaders along with armed guerrillas in the forests of south Abujhmad, a joint search operation comprising personnel of district reserve guard (DRG), an exclusive tribal counterinsurgency wing of Chhattisgarh police, and special task force (STF) was launched in the area.

Maoists opened fire on the security forces when they were closing in on the Naxal camp set up in Nendur- Thula Thali forest, leading to a fierce encounter between them.

Intelligence sources said that the area is under the jurisdiction of the East Divisional Committee of Maoists and the secretary of the committee Niti along with her three-layer security has been spotted in the forested villages in the region for the last several days.

Abujhmad, loosely translated as unknown area, is a 4,000 sq km area extending from south Bastar in Chhattisgarh to Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.

This is the only unsurveyed area in the country and top leaders of outlawed CPI (Maoist) are said to be hiding in the forested region.

With this, as many as 185 Maoists have been killed in 93 separate major encounters in Bastar in 2024 so far.

While 663 Naxals were arrested, 656 ultras have surrendered in Bastar so far.

The slain Maoists included three senior Naxal leaders, Jaganna, Rupesh and Jagdish, who were members of Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), the most powerful wing of Maoists.

Security forces have intensified counterinsurgency operations in Bastar in the wake of Union home minister Amit Shah setting March, 2025 the deadline to end Naxalism in Chhattisgarh.

He said that Naxalism is going to end in Bastar soon and peace will return.

Mr Sai recalled the deadline set by Union home minister Amit Shah to root out Leftwing extremism in the country by March 2026 and expressed confidence that it would be met.

Mr Sai convened a meeting of senior police officers here on Friday night to review the security situation in Bastar in the wake of the Abujhmad encounter.