Commandos from the State Anti-Naxal Squad (ANS) on Thursday claimed to have gunned down seven Maoists and injured several others in an encounter in a jungle near Bhatpar village in Gadchiroli district of eastern Maharashtra, bordering Chhatisgarh.
Acting on a tip-off that Naxalites were holding a secret meeting in a Bhatpar jungle in Bhamragad taluka of Gadchiroli district, three companies of ANS’ C-60 commandos swooped on the place. In the gun battle that followed, seven naxalites were reportedly killed and several others injured.
Bharat Thakur, the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Aheri, who led the operation, said that the ANS personnel had recovered bodies of four Naxalities killed in the encounter, while a search was on for the recovery of the remaining bodies.
Though a few police personnel were injured in the encounter, there was no official information as to the exact number of ANS personnel injured in the gun battle.
Thursday’s was the second major encounter witnessed between the ANS personnel and naxalites n recent months. Earlier in January this year, the ANS commandos had killed six Maoists, including a divisional committee member and a dalam commander, in a gun battle that place on the Allapalli-Sironcha road near Govindgaon in Gadchiroli district.