Five Maoists, including two women, were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Sunday, the police said.
The gunfight broke out in the morning in the forest of Bandepara-Koranjed villages under Madded police station limits when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Maoist operation, inspector general of police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj P said.
The operation involving personnel of District Reserve Guard, Special Task Force and District Force started on Saturday based on inputs about movement of Maoists in the area which falls under Indravati National Park, he said.
"The intermittent exchange of fire lasted till 3-4 pm. Bodies of five Maoists, including two women, clad in 'uniform' were recovered from the site. We seized one Self Loading Rifle (SLR), one 12 bore rifle, two Single Shot rifles, one barrel grenade launcher, one muzzle loading gun and cache of explosives," the IG said.
The identity of the slain Maoists is being ascertained, he added.
With this, 14 Maoists have been killed in separate encounters in the state in 2025.
During a three-day long anti-Moist operation by security forces in Abujhmad on the border of Narayanpur-Dantewada-Bijapur districts that concluded on January 6, five Maoists, including two women, were killed.
On January 9, three Maoists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Sukma district.
Earlier, on January 3, a Maoists was killed in an encounter with security personnel in Gariaband district, which falls in Raipur division.
Last year, 219 Maoists were neutralised by security forces in separate encounters in the state, as per the police.
On January 6 this year, Maoists blew up a vehicle with an IED in Bijapur district, killing eight police personnel and their civilian driver.
© 2025