Security Forces in then jungle
Seven Maoists were killed on Thursday, May 23, in an ongoing encounter with security personnel in the border area of Narayanpur and Bijapur districts in Chhattisgarh, police said. According to police official, an encounter broke out between security forces and Naxalites during the anti-Naxal search operation in the border areas of Narayanpur, Dantewada and Bijapur.
The exchange of fire occurred after the security forces launched a major counter insurgency drive in the bordering area of Narayanpur district which encompasses the Maoist stronghold of Maad.
More than 800 security personnel comprise of District Reserve Guards, Special Task Force, Bastar Fighters and district police are part of the operation launched on Thursday morning, May 23.
The operation was launched following input about the presence of the members of the Indravati Area Committee and platoon no 16 of the outlawed CPI Maoist in the area.
As of now, the forces have reportedly recovered the bodies of the Maoists killed in the gunfight, along with seizing arms and ammunition from the spot. Intermittent firing is still underway in the area, and more details related to the encounter are awaited.
With the neutralisation of 7 Maoists on Thursday, the tally of those killed in the encounters in the state of Chhattisgarh has reached 120 in this year alone, out of which a total of 51 Maoists have been gunned down in back-to-back major operations launched by the forces in the last one and a half months alone.
The development comes amidst the announcement made by Deputy Chief Minister of the State, Vijay Sharma, on Wednesday, May 22, that the state government is mulling over introducing a new surrender policy for the Maoists.
“We would like to know from the Naxalite themselves, what they want in the surrender policy, there is no point roaming around in the forest with a gun. Move into mainstream, adopt democracy, said DY CM, Sharma, while asserting that the government has released a mail ID, a Google form, and a handwritten form for suggestions on the surrender policy.
Earlier, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai had congratulated the security forces after 12 Maoists were killed in an encounter in Bijapur on May 10. “An encounter broke out between Maoists and the Security forces in the Gangaloor area of Bijapur district. 12 dead bodies of the Naxals have been recovered. I congratulate our jawans and senior officers. Ever since we came into government, we have fought strongly against the Naxalites. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah also want Maoism to end in Chhattisgarh. We are benefiting from the double-engine government,” CM Vishnu Deo Sai told ANI.
Twenty-nine Maoists were killed and three security personnel sustained injuries in an encounter that broke out in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker, which lies in the Bastar region on April 16.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the security forces for the encounter operation in Chhattisgarh in which 29 Naxalites were killed and said that the government is determined to free the country of this menace.Shah said that naxalism is the biggest enemy of development, peace and bright future of youth.
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