Gariaband, 21 January
At least 12 Naxalites have been killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district. In this regard, the police gave information on Tuesday and said that earlier on Monday, during the same operation, two female Naxalites were killed in the encounter and a Cobra jawan was injured.
A fresh exchange of gunfire took place late Monday night and Tuesday morning in a forest under Mainpur police station along the Chhattisgarh-Orissa border, killing 12 more Naxalites, an official said. He said that a joint team of security personnel from District Reserve Guard (DRG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Cobra from Chhattisgarh and Special Operation Group (SOG) from Odisha were involved in the operation.
The operation was launched on the night of January 19 based on an intelligence tip about the presence of Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Kulrighat reserve forest, just 5 km from the border in Odisha’s Nupada district, the official said. A large cache of arms, ammunition and IEDs, including a self-loading rifle, were recovered from the encounter site. News-Patiala
