Encounter breaks out between security forces and Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur

An encounter broke out between security personnel and Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Thursday, a senior police official said.

The gunfight erupted at around 9 am in the forest of south Bijapur when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, he said.

The intermittent exchange of fire was still underway, the official said, adding that further details are awaited.


Personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG) from three districts, five battalions of CRPF's elite jungle warfare unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) and the 229th battalion of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) are involved in the operation, he said.

On January 12, five Naxalites, including two women, were killed in an encounter with security personnel in the Madded police station area of Bijapur.

In their biggest strike on security forces in Chhattisgarh in two years, Naxals blew up a vehicle using an improvised explosive device weighing 60 to 70 kg, killing eight security personnel and their civilian driver in Bijapur district earlier this month, police had said.