Kanker: A Naxalite was killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, police said on Monday. The gunfight broke out in a forest along the border of Kanker and Narayanpur districts on Sunday afternoon during an anti-Naxal operation, a police official said in Kanker.
The operation was launched by a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Border Security Force (BSF) based on inputs about the presence of cadres belonging to the North Bastar and Maad divisions of Maoists in that area, he said. Police recovered the body of a Naxalite and a firearm from the spot after the encounter, the official said on Monday, adding that further details are awaited as security forces have not yet returned from the encounter site.
The latest encounter comes a day after eight Naxalites were killed by security forces in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, taking the Naxal toll killed in separate encounters in the state to 50 since January this year. A maximum of 34 Maoists were killed in the Bastar division comprising seven districts, including Kanker.
On January 20-21, 16 Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Gariaband district under the Raipur division. Last year, 219 Naxalites were neutralised by security forces in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh, police said.
