Raipur: At least 31 Maoist insurgents and two security personnel members were killed on Sunday in a fierce shooting in the dense forests of the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, one of the latest Naxal strengths in the country. The operation is ongoing and officials hope that the number of Maoist dead will increase.
This is the second largest count of Maoist victims in a single security strike, after 38 guerrillas were shot dead in Narayanpur on October 3 last year. Since 2024, more than 280 Maoists have been killed in Bastar. The number of Maoists killed this year has increased to 81 in just six weeks. Important operations include the murder of 16 Naxal combatants in Gariaband on January 21 and 8 in Gangaloor on February 2. Security forces have also faced deaths. On January 6, eight agents and a driver were killed when the Maoists attacked their vehicle with an FDI that weighed almost 70 kg in Bijapur.
The Interior Minister of the Union, Amit Shah, praised the security forces for the successful operation. “The nation will always be indebted to these heroes … once again I reaffirm that by March 31, 2026, we will eradicate the naxalism of the roots of this country so that no citizen loses his life due to him,” he said. The shooting exploded on Sunday morning after a contingent of more than 650 security personnel members launched a coordinated operation from multiple directions to the hem in insurgents in the jungles of the Indravati National Park of Bijapur.
State gun-tantra transition to Gantantra: Chhattisgarh cm
Intelligence reported the presence of a large group of Maoists and superior commanders.
At the end of the afternoon, 31 bodies of Maoist guerrillas had been recovered, said the deputy inspector of Bastar of the Kamlochan Kashyap police. Two security men were injured, apart from the two killed.
A large cache of maoist weapons, including AK-47, SLR, INSA and Rifles .303, barrel grenades (BGL) and explosives were seized. Reinforcements have been sent to the site, almost 150 km from the district headquarters already 420 km from Raipur. Indravati was the site of another great operation on January 12, when the security forces killed three Maoists. The park borders the Maoist headquarters of Abujhmarh, which is located in states such as Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
The area has long served as strength for insurgents, providing them with a safe area for recruitment and interstate movement.
Chhattisgarh cm Vishnu Deo Sai declared that the State is making the transition from “gun-tantra” to “Gantantra” (democracy). “Our soldiers have entered the strengths of Naxal and are eliminating them. The success achieved by our forces is commendable, and greet their courage …”, he said, while the death of two security men.