12 suspected Maoists killed in gunfight with security forces

Twelve suspected Maoists were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Thursday, reported PTI quoting an unidentified police official.

The gunfight broke out at around 9 am, and intermittent firing went on till the evening. The state police’s District Reserve Guard, five battalions of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, or CoBRA, and the 229th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force were involved in the operation, said the official.

No security personnel were injured.

With this, at least 25 suspected Maoists have been killed in separate operations in the first 16 days of the year.

On January 5, at least five suspected Maoists were killed and a District Reserve Guard member lost his life in a gunfight in the Bastar region’s Abujhmad area.

On January 9, three suspected Maoists were killed by security forces along the border of Sukma and Bijapur districts.

The operation came days after eight security personnel from the District Reserve Guard and a driver were killed on January 6 when their vehicle was attacked by suspected Maoists in the Bijapur district.

The attack was reportedly the biggest strike by suspected Maoists on security personnel in two years.

On January 12, five suspected Maoists were killed by security personnel in Bijapur.

In the previous year, 217 suspected Maoists were killed by security forces.

Malini Subramaniam has reported for Scroll that while many of those killed in…

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