Six Naxalites killed in encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district

Six Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Tuesday, police said.

The gunfight broke out at around 10 am in the Indravati National Park area when a joint team of security personnel was out on anti-Naxalite operation based on inputs about the presence of senior Maoist cadres in the region, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Yadav said.

Personnel belonging to police's District Reserve Guard (DRG) from Bijapur and Dantewada districts and Special Task Force (STF) were involved in the operation, he said.

Intermittent exchange of fire continued for several hours, the SP said, adding that during the search of the encounter site, the bodies of six Maoists with automatic weapons, including an INSAS rifle, sten guns, a .303 rifle and explosives, the official said.

Additional teams of DRG, STF, Bastar Fighters, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) have been rushed to cordon off the area and nab fleeing Maoist cadres, he added.

The operation was still underway, said SP Yadav.

With the latest action, 259 Naxalites have been killed in encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year. Of them, 230 were eliminated in the Bastar division, comprising seven districts including Bijapur, while 27 others were gunned down in Gariaband district which falls in Raipur division. Two Naxalites were killed in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district in Durg division.

On September 22, two senior Naxalites, Raju Dada alias Katta Ramachandra Reddy (63) and Kosa Dada alias Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy (67), both Central Committee members of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist), were killed in an encounter in the state's Narayanpur district.