Eight maoists killed in Bijapur encounter; two cops injured

Eight Maoists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday, a senior police official said. Two personnel of the District Reserve Guard, a unit of the state police, were also injured in the gunfight, he said.

An Insas rifle and a barrel grenade launcher were among the weapons recovered from the encounter site, he informed.

The gunfight broke out around 8:30 am in the forest in Gangaloor police station area when District Reserve Guard and Special Task Force of the police along with CRPF and CoBRA were out on an anti-Maoist operation, IGP (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P said.

The operation was launched on Friday after receiving information about the presence of cadres of the ‘West Bastar division’ of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoists) in the area, he said.

“The bodies of eight Maoists have been recovered from the spot. Many more ultras have either been killed or injured. The search operation is still underway. We have recovered an Insas rifle, a barrel grenade launcher and other weapons,” he said.