Raipur: Three Maoists including a woman were killed in an anti-Maoist campaign launched by security forces in Sukma district, police said on December 18.
The police received a tip-off about presence of Maoists in the forest area under the jurisdiction of Golapalli police station limits. A team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) was then dispatched to the location, leading to a gunfight with the Naxalites.
Three people were gunned down in the exchange of fire which broke out in the early hours of Thursday. Security personnel have also recovered a few weapons from the spot. More details about the gunfight are still awaited.
Chhattisgarh | Three naxals neutralised in an encounter with security forces in insurgency-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh; some weapons recovered, says Sukma SP Kiran Chavan.
— ANI (@ANI) December 18, 2025
With this more than 280 Maoists have been so far neutralised in separate operations launched by security forces in the state since January this year. Majority of the encounter have taken place in the state’s Bastar division with a few occurring in Gariyaband district near Odisha borders.
Security forces have opened up around 70 security camps in separate pockets of the state, previously marred by the presence of Naxalites. Over a dozen such camps have been setup in Sukma district, one of the most highly affected region in the country.
Anti-Maoists campaign has gained momentum in recent years with Union Government eyeing elimination of red terror from Bharat within the announced deadline of March 2026.
Persistent campaign in highly affected regions including Abujhmad and other areas of South Bastar in Chhattisgarh, Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh, Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, Saranda forest areas in Jharkhand, Alluri Sitharam Raju in Andhra Pradesh and bordering regions of Telangana and Odisha have resulted in major successes for security forces in the past few years.
According to the Union Government over 1100 Maoists have neutralised in operations launched by security forces since 2019 with another 5500 surrendering arms. The expansion of the red terror has also been contained successfully with numbers of districts affected by the Naxal-insurgency falling from over 125 before 2014 to 11 in 2025.
