�Raipur: Four Maoists including two women were on Sunday gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Abujhmad area under Narayanpur district in south Bastar of Chhattisgarh.
A jawan of district reserve guard (DRG), the exclusive tribal counterinsurgency wing of Chhattisgarh, was also killed in the incident, police said.
The slain jawan has been identified as Sonu Koram, a DRG head constable.
This was the current calendar year’s first encounter between Maoists and security forces in Abujhmad, a 4,000 sq km-hilly terrain extending from south Bastar in Chhattisgarh to Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, which has remained un-surveyed in the post-independence period.
The encounter took place in the core area of Maoists in the borders of the districts of Narayanpur and Dantewada in south Bastar, falling under Abujhmad, police said.
A joint search operation comprising personnel of DRG and special task force (STF) drawn from four districts of Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bastar and Kondagaon was launched in a particular area of Abujhmad on Friday following specific inputs on the presence of Maoists, Bastar inspector general of police P Sunderraj said.
The security party came face to face with the Maoists at around six pm on Saturday, leading to a fierce encounter between them.
The encounter has been going on intermittently in the area till the last reports came at six pm on Sunday.
“Four bodies of Maoists along with automatic weapons such as AK 47 and SLR have been recovered at the encounter site so far. The encounter and search operations are still going on. Details of recovery of weapons could be ascertained after the security personnel returned to their camps”, a senior police officer said.
Around 1,000 security personnel drawn from four districts in Bastar division had joined the counterinsurgency operation, sources said.
According to the police, the slain jawan was a surrendered Naxal.
The identity of the four deceased Maoists was yet to be established.
“Recovery of automatic weapons such as AK 47 and SLR at the encounter site indicates that the deceased may comprise senior Maoist leaders”, a police officer said.
With this, a total 221 Maoists were gunned down in Bastar in the last 12 months.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai paid respect to the jawan martyred in the encounter and said that his sacrifice would not go in vain.
He hailed the jawans for the successful counterinsurgency operation leading to killing of four Naxals and said his government is determined to end Maoism in Bastar soon.
