NARAYANPUR: Two women Maoists in uniform were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in the hilly, forested terrain of Abujhmad in Narayanpur district, around 400 km south of Raipur, the Bastar police said on Thursday.
“A joint search operation was launched on Wednesday in the Abujhmad region based on reliable inputs about the presence of senior cadres of Maoists. The exchange of fire ensued on Wednesday night in the forest under Kohkameta police station limits in Abujhmad area,” said Prabhat Kumar, Narayanpur district police chief.
The operation was carried out by a team comprising personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) Narayanpur, DRG Kondagaon, Special Task Force (STF), and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) from the 41st and 45th battalions.
“The two recovered bodies were identified as Seema, member of the Kutul Area Committee, and Linge alias Ranjhu, member of the Kutul Local Organisation Squad (LOS) in Sukma. The forces also recovered one INSAS assault rifle, a country-made .315 bore rifle, ammunition, explosives and items of daily use from the encounter site,” the officer added.
Search operations are continuing in the surrounding forest areas to trace other Maoist cadres who escaped by taking advantage of the dense jungle during the gunfight.
“Security forces remain fully committed to continuing anti-Maoist operations even during the monsoon season. The cadres of the banned and unlawful CPI (Maoist) have no option left except to surrender and renounce violence. Further details will be shared after the troops involved in the operation return to their base camps,” said Sundarraj P, Bastar Range IG.
In the last 18 months, as many as 414 Maoist cadres have been killed in various encounters in the Bastar Range.
The Union Home Minister Amit Shah had in August last year declared 31 March, 2026 as the deadline to wipe out the Maoists from the country.