Five Naxalites, including two women, killed in Chhattisgarh encounter

Five Naxalites, including two women, were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Sunday, police said.

The gunfight broke out in the morning in the forest of Bandepara-Koranjed villages under Madded police station limits when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj P said.  The operation involving personnel of District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force (STF) and District Force started on Saturday based on inputs about movement of Naxalites in the area which falls under Indravati National Park, he said.  "The intermittent exchange of fire lasted till 3-4 pm. Bodies of five Naxalites, including two women, clad in 'uniform' were recovered from the site.  We seized one Self Loading Rifle (SLR), one 12 bore rifle, two Single Shot rifles, one Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL), one muzzle loading gun and cache of explosives," the IG said. The identity of the slain Naxalites is being ascertained, he added.  With this, 14 Naxalites have been killed in separate encounters in the state in 2025. During a three-day long anti-Naxal operation by security forces in Abujhmad on the border of Narayanpur-Dantewada-Bijapur districts that concluded on January 6, five Naxalites, including two women, were killed.  On January 9, three Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces in Sukma district. Earlier, on January 3, a Naxalite was killed in an encounter with security personnel in Gariaband district, which falls in Raipur division.  Last year, 219 Naxalites were neutralised by security forces in separate encounters in the state, as per police. On January 6 this year, Naxalites blew up a vehicle with an IED in Bijapur district, killing eight police personnel and their civilian driver.