india

Updated: May 08, 2019 11:27 IST

Two Maoists, including a woman, were killed in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region in an early morning gun battle with security forces on Wednesday, police said.

The encounter took place at the border of Malangir and Katekalyan area committees of the CPI(Maoist), where their cadres were present.

The BJP’s legislator Bheema Mandavi, a Doordarshan journalist and about a dozen security forces have been killed in the last six months in Malangir area. Dantewada Police had launched a massive operation across Malangir after Bheema Mandavi’s death on April 9.

Officials said police recovered an Insas rifle, 12 bore gun, ammunition, Maoist literature and items of daily use from the spot after the exchange of fire ended.

“The encounter took place at around 4.45am in Gonderas village when a team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) was out on an anti-Maoist operation in the jungles,” Dantewada’s superintendent of police Abhishek Pallava said.

“When the team was moving through Gonderas village, located at the border of Dantewada-Sukma districts, a group of the Maoists fired at the forces. The security forces took a position and a gun battle took place for about 30 minutes,” Pallava said.

The senior police official said they have also recovered the bodies of two Maoists, which are yet to be identified. More details of the encounter, he said, will be received the team returns from the spot.

Seven Maoists have surrendered to security forces and a dozen rebels have been killed in several encounters in Dantewada district in the recent past.

On April 2, Dantewada Police gunned down 29-year-old Maoist commander Mandavi Muiya. He was active in Malangir area and carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head.