RAIPUR/RANCHI: Seven Maoists were killed in separate encounters with security forces in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh on Saturday.At least four Maoist cadres were killed in an exchange of fire in the southwestern region of strife-torn Bijapur district, about 400 km south of Raipur, the Bastar police said on Saturday. An encounter ensued between a team of security forces and the Maoists in the evening hours. The gunbattle continues intermittently in the forested terrain. “Based on intelligence inputs regarding the presence of Maoists in the given location of Bijapur district, troops launched a search operation. A gunfight broke out in the evening. So far, four bodies of Maoist have been recovered along with the INSAS assault rifle, self-loading rifle and other weapons besides explosive materials and items of daily use from the encounter scene”, said P Sundarraj, IGP, Bastar range.As the search operation remains underway, details were not shared owing to the safety concerns of the personnel engaged in the anti-Maoist campaign on the ground.In the last 18 months, as many as 425 Maoist cadres have been killed in various encounters in the Bastar Range. Bijapur, among the seven Maoist-affected districts in Bastar zone, is cited as an epicentre of the left-wing extremist group in south Chhattisgarh.Meanwhile, three Naxalites were killed in a gunfight with forces in Jharkhand’s Gumla district on Saturday, police said.Intelligence inputs were received that members of Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad, a splinter group of CPI (Maoist), had gathered in Ghaghra police station area, they said.Acting on this tip-off, the operation was carried out by the Jharkhand Jaguar and Gumla Police, they added. Several rounds of bullets were fired from both sides. An AK-47 and two INSAS rifles were recovered from the spot. “One of the deceased was identified as Dilip Lohra, 32, of Belagada in Ghaghra. The identification of the other two deceased is still underway,” Gumla’s SP Haris Bin Zaman said.
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