News Brief
Security Forces Strike Again: Seven Maoists Killed In Encounter In Chhattisgarh, Total Climbs To 36 This Month
A Maoist rally (Wikimedia Commons)
Seven Maoists, including two women, were killed in an early morning encounter with security forces in the dense forests of Abujmad, located in the Maoist-affected Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, on Tuesday.
This incident follows another major encounter earlier this month in the same area, where 29 Maoists were killed.
The encounter took place at around 6 am in Abujhmad on the inter-district border of Kanker and Narayanpur districts, according to officials, The Indian Express reported.
A joint team of District Reserve Guards (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) left on an anti-Naxal operation when the encounter took place in the jungle near Tekmeta and Kakur villages, they added.
Following the encounter, security personnel conducted a thorough search of the area, during which they recovered the bodies of the seven slain Maoists.
The security forces have stepped up their anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh since the BJP government came to power.
Earlier this month, security forces killed 29 Maoists, including a senior Naxal leader - Shankar Rao, on whom there was a bounty of Rs 25 lakh - in a gunfight in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district.
The encounter took place on 16 April in the Hapatola forest between Binagunda and Koronar villages in Chhotebethiya.
This was the highest number of fatalities suffered by Maoists in a single encounter in the history of Chhattisgarh's fight against Left Wing Extremism.
