Giving a major blow to the Naxalites, security personnel killed 16 Naxalites in a major encounter in Keralapal area of Sukma district and recovered a large amount of weapons and ammunition, on Saturday, Sukma SP said.
Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran Chavan confirmed the recovery of the bodies of 16 Naxalites from the spot and said, “Two of our soldiers were injured during the campaign, who are being taken for treatment.”
He said that security forces have also recovered large quantities of state-of-the-art weapons including AK-47 rifle, self-loading rifle (SLR) and Inas Rifle from the area. SP Chavan said, “This can be called one of the biggest encounters in Sukma so far.”
The official said that the slain Naxalites have not yet been identified.
The firing started after the joint Naxal operations launched on Friday by the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
According to officials, this campaign was launched on the basis of special intelligence information regarding the presence of Naxalites in Keralapal area under Sukma police station area.
The joint team left for the search operation on March 28 and the firing has been going on intermittently since the morning of Saturday (29 March). Security forces are currently searching in depth of the encounter site and surrounding wild areas.
Sukma is one of the most affected districts in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, where many Naxalite attacks have taken place earlier.
Earlier on Friday, a jawan was injured and was admitted to the hospital after an explosion in the improvised explosive device (IED) installed by Naxalites in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh.
Bastar IG said that after preliminary treatment, the condition of the injured jawan has become stable.
Earlier on March 22, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Parliament that Naxalism from the country will end by 31 March 2026. The Union Home Minister said that between 2004 and 2014, 16,463 violent incidents took place, but this number has decreased by 53 per cent in the last ten years.
He said that 1,851 security personnel were martyred from 2004 to 2014, but the number of security personnel martyred in the last ten years has come down to 509, ie 73 percent decrease. The death toll of citizens decreased from 4,766 to 1,495, ie 70 percent decrease.
The Union Home Minister said that 11,503 km of highways were constructed in Naxal -affected areas from 2014 to 2024. Apart from this, 20,000 km of rural roads were built. In the first phase, 2,343 mobile towers were installed and 2,545 towers were set up in the second phase. The work of installing 4,000 mobile towers is still going on. Shah said that by December 1, the entire Naxalite affected area will be equipped with mobile connectivity.
