Ten alleged Naxalites, including three women Maoist cadres, were killed in an anti-Naxal operation in the Abujmad area in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar on April 30.
According to the police, the gunbattle began in the early hours of the day on the inter-district border of Kanker and Narayanpur districts when a joint team of District Reserve Guards (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) was out for the operation.
The police party and the Maoists exchanged fire in the forest between the village Tekmeta and Kakur. After the encounter, the forces searched the area and initially found the bodies of seven persons. Later in the evening, the police said that as many as 10 bodies had been recovered. Arms and ammunition, including an AK47 and explosives, were also recovered.
The security forces have stepped up their anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh since the BJP government assumed power in the State late last year. In April, there were two other major gunbattles in which 13 Maoists in Bijapur and 29 Maoists in Kanker were killed, the latter being the biggest ever in insurgency-hit Chhattisgarh’s history.
