17 Maoists shot dead in Bijapur encounter
The officers said that the firing deep inside the forests was continuing and that the toll might increase once the operation ends likely on Friday morning
A huge posse of 3,000 security personnel gunned down at least 17 Maoists in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday evening, marking the first big anti-insurgency success in the state since the rebels blew up a vehicle and killed nine people.
The officers said that the firing deep inside the forests was continuing and that the toll might increase once the operation ends likely on Friday morning.
“A total of 17 Maoists were gunned down by security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Punjari-Kanker forests during a coordinated intelligence based operation,” said a senior officer involved in anti-Maoist operations.
A police officer aware of the matter said that around 3,000 police personnel were part of the anti-Maoist operation launched from Bijapur on Wednesday night –– in the same district where Maoists used an improvised explosive device to blow up a vehicle and kill eight security personnel and their driver on January 6.
“Based on intelligence regarding the presence of Maoists in the forests of the South Bastar area under district Bijapur, a joint team comprising district reserve guard (DRG) Bijapur, DRG Sukma, DRG Dantewada,CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action ) Battalion number –– 204, 205, 206, 208, 210, and CRPF 229 Battalion launched an anti-Maoist operation,” a statement issued by Bijapur police said.
The statement added that during the operation, intermittent firing between security forces and Maoists started on Thursday morning. “The jawans are still in the jungle and a combing operation is still going on. We will disclose more details on the encounter on Friday morning,” said a third senior police officer, who was overviewing the operation.
Police said that a huge cache of weapons and explosives were recovered.
The Bijapur encounter is part of a series of successful anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh this year. Security forces have killed roughly 31 insurgents in encounters since January 1, 2024 with an intention of eradicating Maoist violence in India by March 2026. Last year, security forces killed 219 Maoists in the state, much higher than the 22 killed in 2023 and the 30 in 2022.
The string of high-profile encounters are aimed at pushing back extremists, taking over their jungle hideouts and crippling their fortifications. The most killings have occurred in Bijapur this year. The encounters are part of a broader government offensive against the Maoists, constructing roads and setting up camps in districts and areas that were once plagued by Left-wing extremism.
Thursday’s encounter assumed significance as it was in the same district as the January 6 strike on security personnel on their way back from a joint anti-Maoist operation in the dense jungles of Abujhmad; it was the biggest Maoist attack in the state in two years. Bijapur is part of the Bastar division, which includes six other districts — Bastar, Dantewada, Kanker, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Sukma — that form the epicentre of Maoist insurgency.