RAIPUR: Two female Maoists were killed in an exchange fire with the security forces in the forested area of Mainpur region of Gariaband district close to the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, some 160 km east of Raipur, on Monday.
The casualty figures of the rebels are likely to rise as the gun-battle continues and the search operation has been intensified in the area, a police officer said.
“There were some specific inputs about the presence of the Maoists in the region. A joint operation was launched by a team comprising Gariyaband district force, personnel from CRPF, elite unit of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and the Special Operation Group (SOG) of Nuapada Odisha. So far two bodies of female Maoists have been recovered besides the automatic weapons from the scene”, Nikhil Rakhecha, Gariaband district superintendent of police told the New Indian Express.
In January this year, so far bodies of 29 Maoists have been recovered by forces in separate encounters in the state.
One personnel of elite unit Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was injured in the gunfight. “His condition is out of danger and he has been air-lifted to Raipur for immediate medical attention”, the officer added.
The encounter was the second in Gariaband this year. On January 3, a Maoist was killed in an exchange fire with the security forces at Indagaon forested terrain of the district.
The series of encounters against the left-wing extremists remains a part of the renewed strategy to free the Chhattisgarh state from the influence of the outlawed Maoists.
Last year, the Maoists suffered the biggest setback in their revolutionary history in conflict-ridden Bastar where 219 bodies of Maoists have been recovered after they were neutralised by security forces in separate encounters in south Chhattisgarh. Besides, 992 cadres of left-wing extremists were arrested and 837 had surrendered in the state in 2024.