RAIPUR: In one of the biggest offensives in Chhattisgarh , security forces stormed a Maoist hideout deep in the forests of Bastar on Monday morning, killing 15 rebels. Two suspected Maoists were arrested and a large cache of IEDs, guns and ammunition seized.

In the last two months, 39 Maoists have been eliminated. This is part of the forces’ new tactic of scaling up the offensive during monsoon — a strategy devised in the last two years when specially selected jawans were trained in guerilla warfare school.

Special DGP (anti-Naxal ops) Durgesh Madhav Awasthi said that joint forces went into the jungle near Nalkatong village, between Gollappalli and Konta regions of Sukma, an area supposed to be dominated by Maoists. There were intelligence inputs about the presence of a large number of armed rebels in the area.

Spearheaded by CoBRA commandos, the teams comprised jawans from CRPF, Chhattisgarh STF and District Reserve Guards (DRG). A DRG patrol party spotted a Maoist camp and sent out an alert. An intense gun battle went on for about 30 minutes after the forces encircled the rebel camp, Awasthi said.

