Two Naxalites gunned down in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district

Two Naxalites were gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday morning, police officials said, as anti-Maoist operations intensify across the insurgency-hit Bastar belt.According to a senior police official, the exchange of fire erupted in a forested area along the Indravati river when a joint team of security personnel was out on a combing and search operation based on specific intelligence inputs about Maoist presence in the region.“The gunfight began in the morning and continued for some time. After the firing stopped, bodies of two Maoists in uniform were recovered from the spot,” the official said.
Security forces also seized a cache of weapons from the encounter site, including a Self-Loading Rifle (SLR), an INSAS rifle and a 12-bore rifle. A search operation was still underway in the surrounding forest area to track down other members of the outlawed group who may have fled during the exchange, officials added.
With the latest operation, the number of Maoists killed in separate encounters in the state this year has risen to at least 25. Earlier on January 3, 14 Maoists were neutralised in two separate gunfights in the Bastar region, which comprises seven districts, including Bijapur — considered a stronghold of Left-Wing Extremist activities.Chhattisgarh has remained one of the worst-affected states in the country in terms of Maoist violence. Last year alone, as many as 285 Maoists were killed in various encounters with security forces in the state, reflecting a sharp push by the Centre and state government to dismantle the insurgent network.The Union government has set a deadline of March 31 this year to eliminate Left-Wing Extremism from the country, with intensified joint operations and area domination exercises underway across affected districts.