At least five Maoist insurgents were killed in a fierce gun battle in Narayanpur district under violence-hit sprawling Bastar region which is a nerve centre of Maoist militancy since late 1980s, police said on Saturday.
Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Abhishek Meena told The Pioneer “The gun battle between the Maoists and the police broke out in a forested remote patch around 5.30 pm on Friday near Becha village on the broders of the Narayanpur and Bijapur.”
“It was a joint operation carried out by the District Reserve Guards (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) of the police,” Meena said, adding, “The gun battle lasted for over two hours”. A .315 rifle and three 12 bore rifles were recovered.
“We suspect that there would be five-six more casualties on their (Maoists) side, as per the blood spots available in the forest area,” Meena added.
Officials posted at police headquarters in state capital Raipur informed that so far 15 Maoists have been killed in various encounters in Bastar region this month.
Bastar region which is spread out in about 40,000 sq km areas is considered as the nerve centre of Maoist militancy in India.
The region witnessed several deadly attacks by insurgents on police and civilians in past one decade but the violence in the mineral rich Bastar has subsidised in past one year mainly because of stepped up drive by state police and para-military troopers against insurgents.