Five Naxalites killed, 2 security personnel injured in encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar

Raipur: Five Naxalites were killed and two security personnel injured in an anti-insurgency operation in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region on Saturday, a senior police official said.

The gunfight broke out at around 8 am in a forest in north Abujhmad along the border of Narayanpur and Kanker districts when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, he said.

Personnel belonging to the Border Security Force (BSF), District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) are involved in the operation, he said.

The bodies of five Naxalites and a cache of firearms have been recovered from the spot so far, the official said, adding that a search operation is still underway in the area.

Two security personnel sustained injuries in the exchange of fire. They have been shifted to the state capital Raipur for treatment and are out of danger, he said.

Including this incident, the bodies of 197 Naxalites have been recovered so far this year following separate encounters in the state’s Bastar region, comprising seven districts including Kanker and Narayanpur, police said.