The security forces neutralised seven Naxalites in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district on Friday, police said. Meanwhile, three security personnel got injured in the encounter.
According to a senior police official, a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation when the gunfight took place in a forest near Gobel village in the Orchha area. The joint team of forces included personnel belonging to the police's District Reserve Guard from four districts of Narayanpur, Dantewada, Kondagaon and Bastar and the 45th battalion of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the official said.
After guns fell silent, the bodies of seven Naxals were found in uniform. Moreover, some weapons were recovered from the spot, he said. The police also said that three jawans were injured in the gun battle, adding that further details were awaited. With the latest encounter, the total number of Naxalites killed in separate encounters with security forces reached 122 this year.
Naxalites killed in recent past
Earlier on May 23, seven Naxalites were gunned down in an encounter with security personnel in the forest on the Narayanpur-Bijapur inter-district border, while 12 were neutralised in Bijapur district on May 10. Prior to that, ten Naxalites, including three women, were killed in an encounter in a forest along the border of Narayanpur and Kanker districts on April 30, and 29.
The crackdown on Naxalites has intensified in recent months with many Naxalites either killed or arrested or have surrendered. As many as nine Naxalites were arrested in two separate operations in Bijapur district on Wednesday. Five of them were involved in targetting a Police vehicle in an IED explosion on May 15, in which the two policemen narrowly escaped the attack. On the other hand, eight Naxalites surrendered to Chhattisgarh Police on June 2.
(WIth PTI Inputs)
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