Chhattisgarh: 22 Naxals and 1 security personnel killed in Bijapur and Kanker encounters

Officials reported on Thursday that security forces killed at least 22 Maoists in two separate encounters in Chhattisgarh. In Bijapur district, security forces killed 18 Maoists, while a joint team of BSF and DRG personnel from the state police shot dead four Maoists in Kanker. A police jawan also died in the encounter in Bijapur, they said.

The authorities deployed a joint team under the Gangalur police station in the border areas of Bijapur and Dantewada districts as part of an anti-Maoist operation. Clashes and search operations are still ongoing in the area to locate additional bodies.

In addition to the Maoists’ bodies, security forces recovered a significant cache of weapons and ammunition from the encounter site.

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Amit Shah reacted to the encounters in a post

Union home minister Amit Shah reacted to the encounter in a post on X and said, “Today our soldiers have achieved another major success in the direction of ‘Naxal Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’. Our security forces killed 22 Naxalites in two separate operations in Bijapur and Kanker of Chhattisgarh.

He added, “The Modi government is moving forward with a ruthless approach against Naxalites and is adopting a zero tolerance policy against those Naxalites who are not surrendering despite all the facilities ranging from surrender to inclusion. The country is going to be Naxal-free before 31 March next year.”

On February 9, an encounter in Bijapur resulted in the deaths of two security personnel and 31 Maoists in the forests near the National Park area.

Throughout February, security forces arrested 18 Naxalites and seized explosives during operations.In total, security forces have killed over 81 Maoists in 2025.

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