7 Naxalites shot dead by security personnel in Bastar region; toll up to 164 so far in 2024

Dantewada: Seven Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region on Friday, a senior police official said.

The gunfight broke out at around 1 pm in the forest of Abhujmaad on the Narayanpur-Dantewada inter-district border when a joint team of security personnel was out on anti-Naxal operation, he said.

After the guns fell silent, bodies of seven Naxalites along with a cache of weapons, including an AK-47 rifle and one SLR (self-loading rifle), were recovered from the encounter spot, the official said.

A search operation was still underway in the area, he added.

After this latest encounter, 164 Maoists have been gunned down by security forces in separate gun battles in the Bastar region comprising seven districts including Dantewada and Narayanpur, so far this year, police said.