Fourteen Maoists, including 5 women, killed in Sukma and Bijapur encounters in Chhattisgarh

New Delhi: Fourteen Maoists including five women were killed in two encounters with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region on Saturday, police said.

Twelve of them were killed during an anti-Maoist operation in Sukma district, while two others died in neighbouring Bijapur district, the Bastar police said.

Personnel of the District Reserve Guard, a specialised unit of the state police, were involved in both operations, which were launched following intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoist cadres in the area, the police said.

An exchange of fire began around 8 am in a forested area in the southern part of Sukma district from where bodies of 12 extremists were later recovered, an official said.

Among those killed were Konta area committee in-charge Veti Magdu and area committee secretary Madvi Hitesh, the police said.

In Bijapur, a gunfight broke out around 5 am in a forest in the southern region of the district during another anti-Maoist operation, the official said. The bodies of two Naxalites were recovered from the site, while intermittent firing was continuing Saturday evening, he added.

The police said they recovered arms including AK-47 rifles, INSAS rifles and self-loading rifles from the encounter sites.