Fourteen Naxals were arrested from two districts of the insurgency-hit Bastar division of Chhattisgarh today, police said.
While nine rebels were arrested in Sukma district, five were picked up in Narayanpur district.
A joint team of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the District Force of police was out on a search operation under the limits of Bhejji police station in Sukma when it rounded up eight Naxals, Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police Jitendra Shukla told PTI.
Of them, Madvi Manish (27) was active as Jan-Militia deputy commander, Madvi Hunga (24) as head of the Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Majdoor Sangthan (DAKMS)-- a front organisation of Maoists -- and Podiyam Ganga (34) as deputy head of DAKMS, he said.
Rest of the arrested cadres -- Madvi Hidma (19), Muchaki Kosa (19), Madvi Bheema (20), Madkam Aayta (26) and Madvi Baman (28) were active as members of Jan-Militia of Maoists and DAKMS groups, he added.
All of them were allegedly involved in carrying out improvised explosive device (IED) blasts targeting the security forces and firing on police teams in Bhejji and Maraiguda areas of Sukma, Shukla said.
Madkami Pandu (26) a Jan-Militia commander, was apprehended by another team from Kukanar police station limits of Sukma district, he added.
Pandu was accused of carrying out a blast and opening fire on a police patrol team in the forests between Badegadam and Munga (Sukma) last week, the ASP said.
No policeman was injured in the firing.
Elsewhere, five lower-rung Naxals were arrested from Edka police station limits in Narayanpur district, said a police official.
They were accused of helping the rebels arrange meetings in villages, spreading Naxal propaganda and transporting commodities for them, he said.
