Eight suspected Maoists killed in gunfight with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur

Eight suspected Maoists were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday, PTI reported.

The gunfight broke out at around 8.30 am in a forest under the Gangaloor police station limits during a joint operation of the District Reserve Guard, the Special Task Force, the Central Reserve Police Force and its elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action unit, the Hindustan Times reported.

“The operation was launched on Friday based on intelligence inputs regarding the presence of the West Bastar division of Maoists,” the newspaper quoted Sunderaj P, the inspector general of police in the Bastar range, as saying.

The police officer confirmed that eight Maoists were killed in the gunfight as per preliminary reports. However, the operation was still on and more details were awaited, he added.

This took the number of Maoists killed in gunfights with security forces in the state since the beginning of this year to 48.

Sixteen of these suspected Maoists were killed in the Kulhadighat area of the Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, close to Chhattisgarh’s border with Odisha’s Nuapada district on January 21. Twelve were killed in Bijapur district on January 16.

Nine security personnel and a civilian have also died this year.

In 2024, 217 suspected Maoists were killed by security forces.

Malini Subramaniam has reported for Scroll that while many of those killed in Bastar in 2024 were declared by...

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