2 Security Personnel And 31 Suspected Maoists Killed In Encounter In Bijapur District

Bijapur District, February 9, 2025: Around 31 persons suspected to be cadres of the CPI (Maoist) were killed in an encounter with security personnel on Sunday in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, Bastar Range Inspector General of Police Sundarraj Pattilingam announced to the press today.

In his report the IGP said the skirmish took place at a forest in the Indravati National Park area in the morning when a joint team of personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) was out on an anti-Maoist operation.

As per the report of the IGP, a joint team of security forces comprising District Reserve Guard and Special Task Force personnel left for a search operation on Saturday based on intelligence inputs about the presence and movement of top Maoist cadres, including those from the Telangana state committee of the Maoist party, in the jungles around the Indravati National Park region in Bijapur district. They are currently engaged in an intermittent exchange of fire with armed persons purported to be cadres of the Maoist party. So far, 31 bodies of individuals alleged to be Maoist cadres have been recovered during the search operation in the area, adding that the casualty count may rise further.

According to the IGP’s statement, two security personnel, one belonging to the state police’s District Reserve Guard and the other from the Special Task Force, were killed in the firefight and two others suffered injuries. Both the injured jawans were airlifted by chopper from the encounter site to Raipur for immediate medical attention and are stated to be out of danger.