Chhattisgarh: 16 Naxalites killed in Sukma encounter

In Chhattisgarh, at least 16 Naxalites were killed, and two security personnel sustained injuries in an encounter in Sukma district on Saturday, police said.The gunfight broke out in the morning hours in a forest under the Kerlapal police station area where a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, an official said. He said personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are involved in the operation launched on Friday night based on inputs about the presence of Maoists in the Kerlapal area.
"Bodies of 16 Naxalites have been recovered from the encounter site so far. The operation is still underway," the official said.Two security personnel sustained minor injuries in the action, he added. Security forces are currently conducting an intensive search of the encounter site and surrounding forested terrain. Sukma is one of the worst-affected districts in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region, which has seen several Naxal attacks in the past.
On March 20, the security forces killed at least 30 Naxals in two separate operations in Chattisgarh's Bijapur and Kanker districts respectively. While 26 bodies were found at the site of the encounter in Bijapur, four were recovered in Kanker, according to officials. On the same day, security forces killed four Naxals in the Kanker district in a separate combing operation.