New Delhi: At least 11 Maoists — including a “company commander” — were killed in a major counterinsurgency operation that involved over 800 security personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district Tuesday.
The gunfight occurred at Lendra village in Bijapur. The joint operation by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the state police came on the back of an intelligence report about the movement of over 60 Maoists, security sources said.
Significantly, this is the season for collecting Tendu leaves — a traditional occupation in tribal areas such as Bijapur.
Eleven bodies have so far been recovered, one source said.
“A tip-off was received on 1 April following which teams of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force (STF), and Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) of the CRPF left for search operations in the area under Gangaloor police station,” Additional Director General (anti-naxal operations) Vivekanand Sinha told ThePrint. “There was a fierce exchange of fire between these teams and the Maoists in which the latter suffered heavy casualties.”
According to sources, security operations are still ongoing. Search teams have found one 7.62 light machine gun, BGL grenade launchers, and several improvised explosive devices, one source said.
“Since firing is still on, search parties have formed small groups and have spanned out (in the area). Bodies and weapons are still being recovered,” this source said.
This comes after three CRPF personnel — including two from its elite CoBRA unit — were killed in a Maoist ambush in January.
This also comes less than a fortnight before the first phase of the parliamentary election. Chhattisgarh will vote in three phases from 19 April to 7 May.
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LWE incidents on the decline
According to the data that the Ministry of Home Affairs shared with Lok Sabha last August, there was a 76 percent drop in LWE-related violence and a 90 percent decline in casualties — both from security forces and among civilians — between 2010 and 2022.
The number of LWE-affected districts has also come down to 45 in 2022 compared to 96 in 2010.
In December, the MHA said that LWE incidents have come down in Chhattisgarh — the state saw 305 such incidents in 2022, down from 392 in 2018.
Last month, Chhattisgarh’s Vishnu Deo Sai government announced it was going to set up a State Investigation Agency for terrorism and naxalism cases, set up on the lines of the National Investigation Agency.
Seventy-four additional police posts — including that of police superintendents — were announced for the new agency.
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