Many villagers were killed in a crossfire between the CRPF personnel and the Maoists in Gangloor police station under Bijapur district on Friday night, Director General of Police Ramniwas said on Saturday. Meanwhile, local people informed that about eight villagers were killed in the encounter.
The DGP further said the exact number of villagers killed in the crossfire was being found out. He said that the incident happened late on Friday night about 1.7 km away from Elekmeta village, under Gangloor police station.
"The CRPF personnel were on a search operation when the firing from an unknown source opened on the police party in which one jawan was martyred. The force returned fire in which some villagers along with Maoists were killed," Ramniwas said.
He further stated that insurgents have been using villagers as 'shields'. Meanwhile villagers, on the other hand, alleged that security personnel opened fire on them while they were peacefully celebrating some local festival.