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As many as 12 Maoists were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Thursday, a senior police official said, days after eight cops lost their lives in an improvised explosive device blast in the district.
The gunfight broke out at around 9 am in a forest of south Bijapur when a joint team of security personnel was out an anti-Maoist operation and the intermittent exchange of fire lasted till late in the evening, he said.
Personnel belonging to the state police's District Reserve Guard (DRG) from three districts, five battalions of CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action - an elite jungle warfare unit of the CRPF) and the 229th battalion of CRPF were involved in the operation, he said.
"As per preliminary information, 12 Maoists were killed in the gunfight. Further details were awaited as a search operation was still underway in the area," the official informed.
No harm was reported to security forces, he said.
The Maoists have suffered a huge damage in the encounter and their casualty figure is likely to rise, the official said.
The encounter spot is located around 150km from the district headquarters and the area is considered a stronghold of Maoists' battalion No. 1, their strongest military formation in the Bastar region, according to police sources.
With this, 26 Maoists have been gunned down in separate encounters in the state so far this month.
On January 12, five Maoists, including two women, were killed in an encounter with security personnel in the Madded police station area of Bijapur district.
Last year, 219 Maoists were neutralised by security forces in separate encounters in the state.
On January 6, eight DRG jawans and a civilian driver were killed when Maoists blew up their vehicle with a powerful IED in the district.
The blast took place near Ambeli village under Kutru police station when security personnel were returning in their Scorpio vehicle after an anti-Naxalite operation
.