7 Maoists Killed in Bijapur in Gunfight With Security Forces

A total of seven Maoists, including two top cadres, were killed in encounters with security forces in a major three-day operation against left-wing extremism (LWE) in the forests of Indravati National Park in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Saturday.

- Ritesh Mishra

RAIPUR:

While security forces have intensified the combing and area domination operations in the area considered a key Maoist stronghold bordering Telangana, human rights activists and groups claimed that the encounters, part of the operation that began on Thursday (June 5), were "staged."

Two top Maoist leaders—Sudhakar alias Gautam and Mailarapu Adelu alias Bhaskar—have been neutralized in the ongoing operation, involving personnel from the state police's Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) as well as the CRPF's specialized unit Cobra, police said in a statement.

"On Thursday, security personnel recovered the body of Sudhakar, a senior Central Committee member and a top-ranking ideologue of the CPI (Maoist).

The following day, on Friday, Mailarapu Adelu alias Bhaskar—a prominent Maoist leader from Telangana—was found dead at a nearby location," police said.