The encounter lasted 4 hours.
Kanker:
Silence hangs over the hillocks adjoining Hidur and Kalpar villages in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district the place 29 Maoists had been gunned down by safety forces in an encounter.
Hours after the most important encounter ever within the state ended, bullet marks may very well be seen on the bushes on the web site on Wednesday. Bloodstains had been additionally seen on the bottom which is roofed by a thick carpet of fallen bamboo leaves.
Within the close by villages, native tribals, most of them girls, may very well be seen exterior, however they had been reluctant to talk about what they noticed or heard in the course of the encounter on Tuesday.
Lingaram, a resident of Akameta village within the space, claimed that his cousin Sukku, an lively Maoist, was killed within the encounter.
He got here to learn about it solely on Wednesday, he stated, speaking to reporters at Kalpar village.
Sukku had joined the outlawed CPI (Maoist) as a baby and regardless of the members of the family attempting to influence him to stop, he stayed with the Maoist motion, Lingaram stated.
The household was but to contact the police to assert Sukku’s physique, he added.
The path to the encounter web site, largely filth roads or forest paths, was dug up at a number of places. Maoist posters calling on locals to boycott the Lok Sabha elections and crude memorials for killed Maoists may very well be seen close by.
To succeed in the realm, thought of a stronghold of the North Bastar Division Committee of Maoists, one has to cross the Kotri river which runs dry in summer time.
The native administration has been attempting to assemble a bridge on the river for a very long time, however the work didn’t make any progress as villagers are against it, an official claimed.
The encounter web site is positioned greater than 15 km from Bechaghat on the tri-junction of Kanker and Narayanpur districts of Chhattisgarh and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.
Aaytu, a villager, stated he heard gunshots on Tuesday afternoon from a hill adjoining Kalpar village. He, nevertheless, was not keen to elaborate.
On climbing the hill, which has thick bamboo vegetation, blood stains and bullet marks on bushes may very well be seen in locations. Empty syringes and bottles of sentimental drinks and a makeshift stretcher utilized by the safety personnel to ferry their injured colleagues had been mendacity in a dry rivulet.
Personnel of the police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Border Safety Pressure (BSF), round 200 in quantity, had launched the counter-insurgency operation from totally different places on the late night of April 15 and gathered at Mehra village, officers stated.
They crossed Kotri river at Khairipadar after which handed by way of just a few different villages and surrounded the hill the place some senior Maoists had been suspected to be current.
The encounter broke out round 12.30 pm on Tuesday and lasted for round 4 hours, police stated.
Later, the our bodies of 29 Maoists, together with 15 girls, had been recovered. Three safety personnel additionally suffered accidents within the fierce gunbattle.
This was the best variety of fatalities suffered by Maoists in a single encounter within the historical past of the state’s struggle in opposition to Left Wing Extremism.
For the reason that begin of 2024, as many as 79 Maoists have been killed within the Bastar area.
Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma, who holds the house portfolio, hailed the encounter as a “surgical strike” and a significant success, and asserted that credit score for it goes to the courageous safety personnel.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)