Two Naxals killed in encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband, CoBRA commando injured

A police official said that injury caused to the CoBRA commando is superficial. The encounter took place along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border during an anti-Naxal operation by security personnel

Two women Naxalites were killed on Monday and one personnel of the CRPF's elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action was injured during an encounter between security forces and ultras in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district, a police official said. The CoBRA commando's injury is superficial, he added.

The e occurred in a forest under Mainpexchange of firur police station limits along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border during an anti-Naxal operation by security personnel, Gariaband Superintendent of Police Nikhil Rakhecha said. 

Personnel belonging to District Reserve Guard (DRG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and CoBRA from Chhattisgarh and Special Operation Group (SOG) from Odisha are involved in the operation, which is still underway, the SP said.

"After the intermittent firing stopped, the bodies of two women Naxalites were found. A CoBRA jawan sustained a superficial bullet injury and has been airlifted to Raipur for medication. His condition is stable," Rakhecha informed.

With the latest incident, 28 Naxalites have been killed so far in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh in January.

Eighteen Naxalites were killed in an encounter on January 16 in Bijapur district. A total of 219 Naxals were neutralised by security forces in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh in 2024, officials had said.

In another incident, zix Naxals, one of them carrying a reward of Rs 2 lakh on his head, surrendered before security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, an official said.

Among them, Kunjam Masa was carrying a bounty of Rs 2 lakh, while five others were lower-rung cadres. The Naxalites turned themselves in citing their disillusionment with the inhuman and hollow Maoist ideology, the official said, adding that they hailed the state government's Naxalism elimination policy as well as the Sukma police's rehabilitation drive 'Niyaad Nellanar'.

(With inputs from PTI)