10 Naxals killed in Chhattisgarh encounter

Ten Naxalites, three of them women, were gunned down in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Friday, a senior police official said.

CM Vishnu Deo Sai hailed the security forces and said the era of peace and progress had returned to the Bastar region.

The gunfight broke out in the morning in a forest near Bhandarpadar village in the jurisdiction of the Bhejji police station, where a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, said Sundarraj P, IGP (Bastar range).

He said personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and CRPF launched the operation based on inputs about the presence of Maoists from the Konta and Kistaram area committees on forested hills of Korajguda, Dantespuram, Nagaram and Bhandarpadar villages.

“Bodies of 10 Naxalites, including three women, clad in ‘uniform’, have been recovered from the spot,” he said. Besides, 12 weapons, including an INSAS rifle, an AK-47 rifle, a self-loading rifle (SLR) and Barrel Grenade Launchers (BGLs), were also seized, he said. Two of the deceased have been identified as Madkam Masa (42), military in-charge of the south Bastar division of Maoists, and Lakhma Madvi, an area committee member, the IG said, adding that they were carrying a bounty of Rs 8 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, respectively.