BHOPAL: Four armed Maoist cadres, including three women were gunned down in two back-to-back encounters in the dense forests of Maoist-affected Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.
The encounter occured in the Pachama Dadar forests near Laugur village under the Baihar police station area of the Balaghat district of southeastern MP during the ongoing cordon and search operation of the combined forces of CRPF, state police’s special Hawk Force and Balaghat and Mandla district police.
Three women Maoist cadres were killed in the exchange of fire amid heavy rains lashing the forests.
As the search and combing teams of the police and central paramilitary force, including the CRPF’s COBRA team, moved into dense forests, the bodies of the three women Maoists were recovered.
As the security forces moved further into the forests, they spotted the hideout of the armed Maoist cadres. Seeing the security forces enter the forest, the armed LWE cadres started firing. In the retaliatory firing, a male outlaw was gunned down, while the others escaped from the spot, leaving the arms, ammunition and other belongings behind. All four slain Maoist cadres have yet to be identified.
The forests where the back-to-back encounters took place are the crossing points of two groups of the local CPI (Maoists) cadres, including the Kanha-Bhoramdev and Malajkhand Dalams.
“There were more than 20 armed outlaws present in the jungles when the back-to-back encounters took place. An SLR and a grenade launcher were initially recovered during the first encounter, but continued heavy rains are hampering the search operations further,” special DG (anti naxal) of MP Police Pankaj Srivastava said.
This is the third major anti-Maoists encounter in the jungles of Maoists affected Balaghat or Mandla districts in the last 115 days, which have led to the neutralisation of ten armed Maoist cadres, including nine women cadres.
On February 19, four women cadres were gunned down in the jungles of Balaghat district. Later on April 2, two wanted women cadres, carrying bounty of Rs 14 lakh each were gunned down in the jungles of Mandla district.