Raipur: One jawan and eight Maoists were on Saturday killed in an encounter in Abujhmad area under Narayanpur district in Bastar in Chhattisgarh.
Two security personnel were also injured in the incident, police said.
According to the Bastar police, a joint search operation involving personnel of district reserve guard (DRG), special task force (STF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Border Security Force (BSF) was launched in the forests of Kutul, Farasbeda and Kotameta falling under Abujhmad in Narayanpur district, following specific intelligence inputs on presence of armed Maoists in the area.
“The security forces came face to face at several places in these forests at around seven am on Saturday, leading to fierce encounters between them”, a senior police officer posted in Bastar said.
“Bodies of eight Maoists were recovered along with a huge cache of weapons such as INSAS assault rifle, .303 rifle, and Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL) at the encounter site”, the police officer said.
A jawan of STF was killed and two other security personnel were injured in the incident, police said.
The slain jawan has been identified as Nitesh Ekka.
Two other jawans of STF, Kailash Netam and Lekhram Netam, were injured in the incident.
The two injured jawans were airlifted to Raipur for better medical treatment after being given first aid in the local health facility, police said.
They were out of danger now.
The search operation by the security personnel was still on in the area till the last reports came.
This was the fifth major counterinsurgency operation in Abujhmad, a 4,000 sq km area extending from Bastar in Chhattisgarh to Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, in the state in the last two months.
As many as 61 Maoists have been killed in separate encounters in Abujhmad in the last couple of months.
In the current year so far, 131 Naxals have been gunned down in Bastar.
Twenty two civilians and ten security personnel were killed by Maoists in Bastar during the period.
Twenty four Maoists were killed during the corresponding period in 2023.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Said expressed grief over the death of one jawan in the incident.
He however congratulated the security forces for the successful counterinsurgency operation.
He said that his government has intensified anti-Naxal operations and is determined to end Leftwing extremism in the state.
“We are giving a good fight to the Naxals”, he said.
