New Delhi:

At least seven Maoists, including two female members, have been killed in an ongoing encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district today, officials said.

A huge quantity of weapons, including one AK 47, have also been recovered from the encounter site.

The encounter between Maoists and a joint security team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) broke out in a forest at around 6 am today, officials said.

The security personnel had left for a Maoist operation in Abujmarh of the Narayanpur and Kanker border area on Monday. 

“An encounter took place between the police party and Maoists in the forest between village Tekmeta and Kakur. During the search of the incident site, the bodies of a total of seven Maoist cadres, including two female Maoists, were recovered and their identifications are underway,” an official said.

A huge quantity of arms and ammunition, including one AK 47, and items of daily use have been seized from the Maoist camp, the official said.

Earlier this month, security forces killed 29 Maoists, including a senior rebel leader – Shankar Rao, on whom there was a bounty of Rs 25 lakh – in a gunfight in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district.

The encounter took place on April 16 in the Hapatola forest between Binagunda and Koronar villages in Chhotebethiya.

This was the highest number of fatalities suffered by Maoists in a single encounter in the history of Chhattisgarh’s fight against Left Wing Extremism.

Amit Shah Warns Chhattisgarh Maoists

Union Home Minister Amit Shah last week issued a stern warning to Maoists in Chhattisgarh and asked them to surrender or else they will be rooted out from the state.

Speaking at an election rally in Kanker town on April 22, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said that in the last four months alone, about 90 Maoists have been killed in Chhattisgarh.

While 123 Maoists were arrested, 250 others surrendered (during this period), he said.

“Elect (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji for a third term and the menace (of Maoists) will be rooted out from Chhattisgarh in two years,” Mr Shah asserted.

“As long as there is Maoism, tribal brothers, and sisters will not have access to electricity, schools, ration shops, and hospitals. I would like to tell them (Maoists) to surrender, otherwise the result of the fight is certain. We will finish them. We will root out them from Chhattisgarh,” he said.

Kanker:

A police constable and a Maoist were killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district on Sunday, a senior police official said.

The gunfight occurred in a forest near Hidur village under Chhotebethiya police station limits, where a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Maoist operation, Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P said.

The operation was launched based on a specific input about the presence of Maoists in the Hidur forest, he said.

Personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Bastar Fighters, both units of the state police, along with the Border Security Force (BSF) and district force, were involved in the operation, the official said.

The patrolling team was cordoning off the forest when Maoists fired on them indiscriminately, leading to the gun battle, he said.

“Constable Ramesh Kurethi of the Bastar Fighters was killed in the gunfight. The body of a Maoist and an AK-47 rifle were recovered from the spot”, the IG said.

A search operation was underway in the area, he said.

Kurethi hailed from Sangam village in the Pakhanjur area of Kanker district, the official said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)