3 Naxalites killed in encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur

Three Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday morning, police said.

The gunfight broke out in a forest in the Indravati National Park area around 9 am when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj P said.

Personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) from Bijapur and Dantewada districts, the Special Task Force (STF), and the 202^nd and 210^th battalions of CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action)—an elite unit of the CRPF—were involved in the operation, he said.

The official said the bodies of three Naxalites, along with a cache of weapons and explosives, were recovered from the spot.

The operation was underway in the area, he added.

With the latest encounter, 138 Naxalites have been gunned down in separate encounters in the state so far this year. Of them, 122 were eliminated in the Bastar division, comprising seven districts, including Bijapur.