Kanker: Two Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, official sources said on Saturday. The Inspector General of Police Sunderraj P said that the encounter took place around 8 am in the morning in a forest located within the limits of Koylibeda police station during an anti-Naxal operation.
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The Bastar IG said that a team of District Reserve Guard (DRG), a unit of the state police force, was conducting the an anti-Naxal operation when the Naxals hiding in the area opened fire on the security forces which was retaliated thus triggering an encounter. Bastar IG Sunderraj P said that after the firing stopped, bodies of two male Naxalites, one INSAS rifle, one 12 bore rifle and ammunition were recovered from the spot.
The dead Naxalites have not been identified yet and the surrounding areas have not been identified, the Bastar IG said. The search operation is still going on in the area, he added. Pertinently, in another encounter in Chhattisgarh, one Naxalite was killed in an encounter between security forces and Naxalites in Bandepara forest of Madded in Bijapur district of the state earlier this year.
Police also claimed to have recovered an AK 47 rifle from the site of the encounter. IG Bastar, Sunderraj P had then said that they had received inputs about the presence of Naxalites being set up in the forests of Koranjed-Bandepara. Police said that on seeing the soldiers approaching towards them, the Naxalites started firing which was retaliated by the security forces thus triggering an encounter.
Security forces have intensified anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh where assembly elections are scheduled next month.
