A cache of weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, one SLR (self-loading rifle), one INSAS rifle, one LMG rifle and one .303 rifle were also recovered from the encounter spot.
In a fresh offensive against Naxals, security forces killed at least 30 members of the banned CPI-Maoists in two separate encounters in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region on Thursday, officials said.
Maoists have admitted that 28 cadres, including their top leader Basavaraju, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region last week. The Naxals also claimed that some of their cadres had surrendered to police and provided information that led to the operation. Police have recovered a large cache of weapons, including an AK-47 looted by Basavaraju from security forces in a 2010 ambush.
As many as 14 Maoists were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region on Friday, a senior police official said. However, ANI has put the toll at 30.
With this incident, 154 Naxalites have been gunned down by the security forces in different encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year, the police said.
The skirmish took place in the forest near Mangnar village under Barsur police station limits, he said.
The prime minister will be visiting an education city, aimed at providing education to under-privileged children living in the area
Seven CRPF men were killed on Wednesday and their weapons looted after Naxals carried out a deadly landmine blast on their vehicle in the jungles of the worst Naxal-affected Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.
'Sujatha's decision to surrender reflects the deep crisis of confidence that the Maoist ranks are facing in recent times.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned the attack.
'The biggest game changer has been the belief among Maoists that they can surrender and join the mainstream'
The skirmish took place in the wee hours in the restive Dabba-Kunna hills when the joint team of the CRPF and STF was out on an anti-Maoist operation.
The incident took place on Wednesday night in Tarrem area when a joint team of security personnel was returning after an anti-Maoist operation in forests on the tri-junction of Bijapur-Sukma-Dantewada districts, a police official said in Bijapur.
The driver of a Scorpio that was right behind the vehicle targeted by Naxalites with an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Wednesday said he won't be able to forget the day long as he lives.
Setting up new camps of security forces in these villages in the last seven months has been paving the way for development of the respective areas, they said.
An NIA spokesperson said several digital devices, including mobile phones, SIM cards and memory cards, along with incriminating documents like pamphlets of the proscribed Naxal outfit were seized during the searches.
Eight police personnel and a civilian driver were killed in a Naxal blast in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Monday. The blast, which was carried out using a 60-70 kg improvised explosive device (IED), occurred near Ambeli village under Kutru police station area. The victims were travelling in an SUV when the blast occurred. The incident marks the biggest attack on security forces in Chhattisgarh in two years. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and other state leaders paid homage to the deceased at a wreath-laying ceremony in Dantewada.
Naxals looted six automatic weapons -- two AK-47s and as many INSAS and self loading rifles -- of the deceased personnel.
If the threat from the 'Maovadis' (Maoists) is fading, the danger now lies with the 'MoUvadis' -- those who might exploit the resource-rich Abujhmad region through corporate or State-backed projects.
Originally hailing from Andhra Pradesh, the 67-year-old was involved in indoctrination and radicalization of youth and also responsible for numerous Maoist attacks in Chhattisgarh, resulting in the death of civilians and security personnel, they said.
'Many of them are mutilated beyond recognition. Every day an encounter takes place.' 'Bastar has been burnt to ash.'
Police have also recovered a GPS device of Naxals from the site in which the rebels had set the location of the improvised explosive device used in the incident.
"It is certain that the information about their movement was leaked. Somewhere or at some stage this has happened. The boys were doing a surprise non-operational movement and hence were in mufti. We are looking into it," CRPF Director General K Durga Prasad said.
Three Maoists were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Sunday. The gunfight broke out in the morning at a forest in the Indravati National Park area when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation. The bodies of the three Naxalites were recovered along with firearms and explosives.
Former leader of opposition in Chhattisgarh assembly Mahendra Karma sustained minor injuries after his vehicle was blown up by suspected Naxalss in Dantewada district of the state, police said.
An alert has been sounded in the anti-Naxal operations theatre of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand following a "spike" in IED blasts and recoveries, including that of a device rigged with beer bottles and a small antenna for remote control explosion. The uptick in improvised explosive device (IED) recovery and blasts has been noticed as multiple security forces move into core Naxal areas to meet the Union government's deadline of wiping off Left Wing Extremism (LWE) from the country by March 2026.
Dinesh Tati (23), resident of Palnar village in Gangaloor police station limits, was held on Friday from a tractor showroom in Bijapur town, Additional Superintendent of Police Chandrakant Gavarna said.
In the first phase covering 20 of the total 90 assembly seats, 223 candidates, including 25 women, are in the fray and as per electoral rolls, 40,78,681 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
A massive anti-Naxal operation involving around 10,000 security personnel along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border entered its fifth day on Friday, with the Maoists reportedly issuing a statement calling for a halt to the exercise and initiating "peace talks." The statement, circulating on social media, claims that the government is resorting to repression and violence despite the possibility of resolving the issue through dialogue. The operation, considered one of the largest counter-insurgency actions in the Bastar region, involves personnel from various units including the Chhattisgarh police, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and its elite CoBRA unit. The operation, launched on Monday in the densely forested hills of Karregutta and Durgamgutta along the inter-state border, is aimed at targeting PLGA battalion No. 1, the strongest military formation of the Maoists.
Congress's Devti Karma won the bypoll for the seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribes, by a margin of 11,192 votes, a poll official said.
With this, the number of Maoists killed in the gun battle with the security personnel on Friday has risen to 31, they said, adding that a search operation is still underway in the area.
Many IEDs explode even when the troops are on foot and their trigger mechanism gets activated just due to the pressure of the feet. These incidents have injured more than 100 personnel over the last two years, the officer said.
Another jawan was injured in the incident. Naxalites shot dead two Salwa Judum leaders Hapka Ayatu and Palli Pandu yesterday in Kader and Kandulnar villages of Bijapur district, police said.
Women, children and other family members of the deceased were seen crying while women security personnel were trying to console them.
A ruling Bharatiya Janata Party leader was on Monday shot dead by Naxalites in Katekalyan region of the Maoist-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, police said.
In one of the deadliest blows to Naxalites in Chhattisgarh, security forces on Sunday gunned down 31 rebels, including 11 women, in a fierce encounter in the state's Bijapur district, police said.
The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
A major tragedy was averted after two Naxal-planted landmines carrying 50 and 25 kg explosives were unearthed from a national highway in Dantewada on Monday, barely days after an IED blast left eight CRPF personnel dead in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district.
Rao's history includes arrests in 2000 by Sahadha police of Nandurbar district and subsequent releases, as well as an underground stint in 2002, leading to his arrest by Malkanoor PS police of Karnataka in 2005.
Seven Naxals were killed and a policeman sustained serious injuries in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Tuesday.Security forces gunned down seven Naxals in the jungles of Tetemdagu village, nearly 18 kms from Kistaram town, in the district, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Amresh Kumar Mishra said, adding that a policeman was also seriously injured in the ambush.
