Raipur, Apr 24: Three women Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border on Thursday, police said, days after a massive anti-Maoist operation involving around 10,000 personnel was launched in the Bastar region.
They are suspected to be members of the strongest military formation of Naxals, they said.
The gunfight took place at a forest in Karegutta hills in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district along the inter-state border in the morning when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-Naxal operation, a senior police official said.
So far, bodies of three women Naxalites, clad in ‘uniform’, along with weapons have been recovered from the encounter site, while several other Maoists are also suspected to have been killed in the fierce gun battle, he said.
Following the gunfight, a huge cache of firearms, explosives and Maoist related materials were also recovered from the spot, he said.
The operation, one of biggest counter-insurgency actions launched in the Bastar region, involved around 10,000 security personnel belonging to different units, including the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Bastar Fighters, Special Task Force (STF), all units of the state police, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite Commando Battalions for Resolute Action (CoBRA), he said.
The all-out operation seeks to target formations of the banned outfit CPI (Maoist) and the Telangana police were assisting in the exercise, according to the official.
The operation was launched on Monday based on inputs about the presence of senior cadres of battalion No. 1, the strongest military formation of Naxals, Telangana state committee and Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of Maoists, and it will go on for several days, he said.
The area where the encounter took place is surrounded by dense forests besides hills and is considered to be the base of Maoists’ battalion No. 1, the official informed.
Prima facie, the three slain cadres belonged to Maoists’ battalion No. 1, but their identities were yet to be ascertained, he said.
Further details about the operation will be shared later, the official added. (PTI)
