C’garh: 31 Naxals, 2 jawans killed in Bijapur encounter, huge cache of automatic weapons recovered
The two injured jawans were airlifted to Raipur for better medical treatment and they were said to be out of danger now
Raipur: In the biggest counterinsurgency operation in the current year so far, security forces on Sunday gunned down 31 Maoists in the Indravati National Park area, a Naxal stronghold, in Bijapur district under south Bastar of Chhattisgarh, police said.
Two jawans were killed and two others injured in the incident.
Acting on specific intelligence inputs on the presence of some senior Maoist cadres camping in the jungle in the national park, a joint search operation comprising personnel of district reserve guard (DRG), special task force (STF) and Bastar Fighters (BF) was launched in the area in the morning.
Security forces came under attack by the Maoists when the former were closing in on the camp set up by the latter in the forest, leading to an encounter between them.
“Bodies of 31 Naxals have so far been recovered along with a huge cache of automatic weapons such as AK 47, INSAS assault rifle, self-loaded rifle (SLR) and barrel grenade launcher (BGL) and large quantities of explosives at the encounter site. Two security personnel lost their lives while two others were injured in the incident”, Bastar inspector general of police P Sunderraj said.
The two slain jawans were from DRG and STF.
The two injured jawans were airlifted to Raipur for better medical treatment and they were said to be out of danger now.
Reinforcement was sent to the area.
The search operation still continued at the encounter site.
Further details would be available after the search operation ends, police said.
Known in the security parlance as the ‘hardcore Maoist zone’, the ‘red corridor’ in the Indravati National Park area facilitates movement of top Maoist cadres from Gadchiroli in Maharashtra to Bijapur in south Bastar and vice-versa when the face pressure from security forces in either side, sources said.
The ‘Maoist zone’ is guarded by the national park area committee, one of the fierce formations of the Naxals, to ensure safe movement of the top-level cadres in the route, sources added.
In the current year so far, as many as 68 Maoists were killed in Bastar in separate encounters.
This apart, 18 Naxals, including the central committee (CC) member Chalpati carrying a bounty of Rs one crore, were gunned down in a forest falling under the Udanti Sitanadi tiger reserve under Gariaband district in east Chhattisgarh.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai praised the security forces for the successful counterinsurgency operation in the national park area and exuded confidence that the target set by the Centre to end Naxalism by March 31, 2026 would be accomplished.
He expressed grief over the death of two jawans.
He said that in the last 13 months since BJP came to power in Chhattisgarh in December, 2024, a total 282 Maoists were killed.
While 1033 were arrested, 925 ultras surrendered in the state during the period .