Raipur: Two Maoists, both women, were killed in an encounter with security forces in the Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh, the police said on Thursday. The two were killed in an encounter that began on Wednesday night, officials said.
The identities of the two women are yet to be ascertained. However, an INSAS rifle and a .315 rifle were found next to the bodies, the police said. A search operation is currently underway in the forest where the encounter occurred.
Union home minister Amit Shah, during his recent visit to the state, had said that security forces would continue with their relentless efforts to eliminate members of the banned CPI (Maoist) who refuse to surrender. The operations will continue even during the monsoon season, when it gets difficult to enter the forests where the Maoists have their hideous, Shah had said.
Over 100 rebels have been killed in encounters with security forces in Chhattisgarh this year. In 2024, 219 Maoists were killed in the sate, as compared to 22 in 2023 and 30 in 2022. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has made it clear that it wants to rid the country of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) by the end of March 2026.
So far as the latest operation is concerned, a joint team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) was conducting an anti-Maoist operation on Wednesday, based on intelligence inputs about the presence of senior cadres from the Maoists’ Maad division in the area, when they it was fired upon.
The encounter started at night inside the forest under Kohkameta police station limits in the Abhujmaad area.
The security forces have achieved some major successes against the rebels in the last few weeks. Among the Maoists killed were top leaders like Basavaraju and Sudhakar. Recently, two top Maoists, including a member of the outfit’s central committee, were killed in neighbouring Telangana.
