Naxalite killed in encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Sukma

Raipur: A Naxalite was killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Saturday, police said.

The gunfight occurred on a forested hill near Belpochcha village, where a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran Chavan told PTI.

The operation, involving personnel from the District Reserve Guard, Bastar Fighters and district force— all units of the state police, was launched on Friday night based on inputs about the presence of Maoists in the forests of Belpochcha, Jinetong and Uskawaya villages in view of the bandh they have called on May 26, he said.

Maoists have called for a bandh on May 26 in the Bastar region to protest against the alleged fake encounters.

The SP said an exchange of fire broke out between the two sides when the patrolling team was near Belpochcha.

After guns fell silent, the patrolling team recovered the body of a Naxalite along with a weapon, a cache of explosives and Maoist-related materials from the spot, he said.

The identity of the deceased cadre was yet to be ascertained, he said, adding that a search operation was underway in the area.

With this incident, 114 Naxalites have been killed so far this year in separate encounters with security forces in the state.

On Thursday, seven Naxalites were killed in an encounter on Narayanpur-Bijapur inter-district border.

Twelve Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Bijapur on May 10, while 10, including three women, were gunned down in a forest along the border of Narayanpur and Kanker districts on April 30.

On April 16, 29 Naxalites were gunned down in an encounter in the state's Kanker district, police said.