The death toll in the Bijapur Encounter in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh has increased to 13. It is known that the exchange of fire started on Tuesday morning in Korcholi forests of Jijapur district and continued for 10 hours. Officials said that bodies of 13 Maoists have been found so far.
According to the details disclosed by the senior police officials, information was received that the Maoists will hold a plenary in the forests of Bijapur district. As a result, the security forces of District Reserve Guards (DRG), CRPF, Cobra, Bastar Fighters and Chhattisgarh Armed Forces (CAF) have surrounded the forests under the jurisdiction of Gangaluru Police Station as per the orders of the superiors.
In this order, on Tuesday morning, the Maoist forces who were holed up in Lendra forests near Korcholi opened fire on the jawans. Immediately the jawans were alerted and fired back. Gunfire rang out between the two groups for nearly two hours.
After the encounter, the security forces seized the bodies of 13 Naxalites along with a huge amount of arms and materials from the scene. IGP Sundarraj said that the search operation is going on. Preliminary information was received that DVC member Kranti Mucha and another key member Papa Rao died in the latest encounter. Security forces estimate that the Maoists have been injured in large numbers.
Meanwhile, it is known that six Naxalites were killed in an encounter in the same Bijapur district on 27th of last month. With the latest incident, a total of 45 Naxalites were killed in separate encounters in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.
