The shootout took place around 6 a.m. in the forest near Lendra village (representative)

Raipur:

Eight Maoists were killed in a clash with security personnel in a major counter-insurgency operation in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district today, police said.

Bijapur district falls under the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency, which will participate in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 19.

Bastar Range Police Superintendent Sundarraj P told PTI that the shootout took place around 6 am in a forest near Lendra village under Gangaloor police station area when a joint team of security personnel was conducting an anti-Maoist operation.

He said personnel of the District Reserve Guard, Special Task Force, Central Reserve Police Force and its elite unit Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) were involved in the operation.

He said the bodies of four Maoists along with a light machine gun and other weapons were recovered from the spot after the exchange of fire ceased.

Four more bodies were later found at the site of the encounter, the inspector general said, adding that a search operation in the area was still ongoing.

It is worth noting that the Maoists launch Tactical Counter Offensive Campaigns (TCOC) and intensify their activities every summer from March to June. During this period, there were a large number of attacks against security forces in the Bastar region.

Police had earlier said that six Maoists were killed in a clash with security forces in Basaguda area of ​​Bijapur on March 27.

In the latest incident, 41 Maoists have been killed in separate clashes with security forces in Bastar district, which includes seven districts including Bijapur, so far this year, according to police .