Eight Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Saturday, police officials confirmed. The gunfight erupted around 8:30 am in the forested area under Gangaloor police station limits during an anti-Naxalite operation carried out by a joint team of security personnel, a senior police official stated.
More details were awaited as the operation was still underway, he said. The operation, launched on Friday based on intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists from the West Bastar division, involves personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force (STF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), a senior police official said.
Seven Naxalites, including three women, surrendered before police in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district on Friday, a police official said. The surrendered rebels were involved in multiple attacks on security forces and carried a collective cash reward of Rs 32 lakh.
The cadres turned themselves in before senior police and Border Security Force (BSF) officials here citing disappointment with the “hollow” and “inhuman” Maoist ideology and tribals’ exploitation by senior Naxalites, Kanker Senior Superintendent of Police Indira Kalyan Elesela said.