Story by Raksha Bhattacharjee
The encounter takes place one week after security personnel in the Bijapur district killed eight Maoists in another operation.
Police in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district reported on Sunday that an encounter in jungles within the National Park region had killed 31 Maoists and two security personnel.
Although the number of Maoists was initially 12, IG Bastar P Sundarraj subsequently verified that the number had increased to 31. By Sunday midday, the operation was under way.
The encounter takes place one week after security personnel in the Bijapur district killed eight Maoists in another operation. “Two jawans, including one from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the other from Special Task Force (STF), lost their lives, while two others were injured in the gunfight,” said P Sundarraj, the inspector general of Bastar.
Eight Maoists were killed in a gunfight
Eight Maoists were killed in a gunfight that started on January 31 as a combined security force was conducting an anti-Maoist operation, according to a senior police official who was quoted by news agency PTI. According to him, the operation was started on Friday after the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) received information about the presence of Maoist cadres from the “West Bastar division” in the region. It involved members of the state police’s District Reserve Guard and Special Task Force.
After eight District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawans and one driver were killed when Maoists in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh, detonated their vehicle with an IED, Home Minister Amit Shah reaffirmed the central government’s commitment to “end Naxalism” by 2026 on January 6.
According to IG Bastar
The IG stated that following a joint operation, the jawans of DRG Dantewada were returning in a Scorpio. According to IG Bastar, the joint operation involved Dantewada, Narayanpur, and Bijapur. PTI cited an officer who said the Maoist attack on the state police unit DRG was the largest Maoist attack on security forces in the past two years.
The vehicle, which was part of a convoy conveying security forces in the nearby Dantewada district, was blown up by Maoists on April 26, 2023, killing ten police officers and a civilian driver.
Amit shah on “X”
Amit Shah, the home minister, expressed his sadness over the loss of DRG soldiers in the Bijapur IED explosion on the microblogging site X. “This anguish cannot be put into words, but rest certain that our warriors’ sacrifice will not be in vain.
