Chhattisgarh: 3 Maoists shot dead in Bijapur in joint op with Greyhounds

RAIPUR: Three Maoists were killed in an inter-state operation in the forests of Bijapur district on Saturday morning.
The encounter broke out on the border of Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Security forces recovered a light machine gun, the second in three days, and an AK-47. The operation is still on.
This is the third back-to-back encounter in the region, beginning with the biggest anti-Maoist op in years in which 13 insurgents were gunned down in Gangaloor.
The operation that led to Saturday’s encounter was based in intelligence about the movement of Maoists in the forest range next to Telangana. While a joint force went after the Maoists, the elite Greyhounds of Telangana police moved in from the other side, trapping the insurgents between an anvil and hammer.
When security teams were searching a dense forest between Usoor in Bijapur and Doligutta on the Telangana border, Maoists opened the encounter around 5.30am. The security forces hit back hard. Hammered by the Greyhounds, the Maoists fled, leaving three of their dead behind.
Bijapur said they found the bodies an LMG and assault rifles, indicating the presence of many senior commanders. The dead Maoists are yet to be identified but police believe they have neutralized a senior commander.
While Maoists often target security forces during their Feb-June ‘tactical counter offensive campaign’ (TCOC), this year they have been hit the hardest.
The Maoists fired the first shot in the campaign by ambushing a patrol party in Hidma’s stronghold, Tekulguda, killing three jawans on Jan 30. The counterstrike by forces has been sustained and fierce. At least 46 Maoists have been gunned down in encounters since then.
Earlier this week, 13 Naxalites, including three women, were killed in an encounter in Bijapur district, followed by another kill in Dantewada on April 5. With Saturday’s encounter, the number of Maoists killed since the Vishnudeo Sai-led BJP govt took over has risen to 56.