4 Naxals gunned down in Gadchiroli, one in Sukma

In a joint operation, the police's special commando unit C-60 and the CRPF killed four Maoists in an encounter along the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border in Gadchiroli district on Friday, a senior official said.

The official, in a statement, said based on credible intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists formations on the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border near a recently opened Forward Operating Base in the Kawande area, an operation was launched on Thursday afternoon. A dozen C-60 parties (300 commandoes) and a component of the CRPF launched the operation from Kawande and Nelgunda areas towards the banks of the Indravati river amidst heavy rains.

On Friday morning, when the cordon was being laid and river banks were being searched, Maoists started indiscriminate firing on C-60 commandoes, leading to an effective retaliation by security forces. Intermittent exchange of fire continued for almost two hours and a search of the area by security forces later led to the recovery of bodies of four Maoists, he added.

Meanwhile, a Naxalite was killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, a police official said on Friday.

The gunfight broke out on Thursday evening in a forest under the jurisdiction of the Kistaram police station area when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxal operation, he said.

Personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force and 210th battalion of CoBRA, an elite unit of the CRPF, were involved in the operation, he said.

“One Naxalite has been killed in the gunfight, and an intermittent exchange of fire is still underway in the area,” the official said.

33 surrender in Bastar

As many as 33 Naxalites — including 24 who were carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 91 lakh — surrendered before the security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region on Friday, the police said.