RAIPUR: Eight
Maoists
— three of them women — were gunned down in an operation in Abujhmarh region of
Bastar
’s Narayanpur district in Chhattisgarh on Saturday. A security personnel was also killed and two were injured.
This is the second
encounter
in the same region in eight days — seven Maoists were eliminated on June 7 close to Saturday’s battleground.
Bastar range IG P Sundarraj said 136 insurgents have been eliminated this year.
Ten security personnel have lost their lives in encounters or IED blasts.
The slain
STF jawan
was identified as Nitesh Ekka. Security forces recovered Insas and 303 rifles, a grenade launcher and explosives from the site of the encounter.
Sundarraj said a joint operation was launched in Abujhmarh’s Kutul, Farasbeda and Kohkameta forests on June 12. This region, skirting the Maharashtra border, is around 40km-50km from Narayanpur and has been the focus of intense security ops in the last few months.
The IG said that there was specific input about the presence of senior cadres from Marh division and People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) company number 1 in Abujhmarh’s Kohkameta forest. So an operation was planned to intercept them, he added.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai paid tribute to the slain trooper and prayed for fast recovery of injured personnel.
