Raipur: A suspected Maoist was on Saturday gunned down in an encounter with security forces near the forested village of Burklanka under Bheji police station limits in Sukma district in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, police said.
Acting on specific intelligence tip off on the presence of a large number of Maoists in the area, a search party comprising personnel of district reserve guard (DRG), an exclusive tribal counterinsurgency wing of Chhattisgarh police, launched an anti-Naxal operation in the forest on Friday night.
The search party came under attack by the armed ultras at around six am on Saturday when they came near the Maoists’ camp, a senior district police officer of Sukma said.
A fierce gun battle ensued between them that lasted nearly an hour, police said.
Later, the rebels fled into the jungle.
Security forces recovered the body of a Naxalite in Maoist uniform along with a muzzle loading gun at the encounter site.
The slain Maoist was yet to be identified, police said.
