Raipur: Two women Maoists were on Monday gunned down in an encounter with security forces in the forest falling under the Udanti Sitanadi tiger reserve in Gariaband district in Chhattisgarh, police said.
A jawan of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was injured in the incident.
The encounter took place at around nine in the morning in the reserve forest under Mainpur police station, Gariaband district superintendent of police Nikhil Rakhecha told this newspaper.
Bodies of two Maoists along with two automatic weapons including one self-loaded rifle (SLR) were later recovered at the encounter site, he said.
Recovery of the automatic weapons indicates that the women Maoists should be in the rank of commander or deputy commander in the Naxal cadre, he said.
Identities of the slain Maoists were being ascertained.
The CoBRA jawan has been airlifted to Raipur for treatment and he was said to be stable.
Acting on specific intelligence inputs on the presence of the armed Maoists in the reserve forest, a joint operation was launched by the security personnel of Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
An encounter ensued when the security forces came face to face with the Maoists in the jungle.
The encounter lasted around eight hours till 5.30 pm, the police officer said.
Maoists have established a corridor passing through western Odisha to east Chhattisgarh, police sources said.
A patch of forest under Udanti Sitanadi tiger reserve comes under this Maoist corridor, sources said.
Total 25 Maoists were killed in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh in January so far.
