Gadchiroli (Maharashtra): What could be viewed as the biggest crackdown in four decades in Maharashtra on Maoists, security forces on Sunday gunned down at least 16 Maoists including some women in Gadchiroli district.
According to an official, among those killed were at least a couple of high-ranking unit commanders.
A fierce gunfight took place in a thickly forested area between the Maoists and security forces in which the rebels suffered huge reverses, the official said.
The official said the gunfight took place in the Boria jungles on the border of Bhamragad-Etapalli taluka.
On the basis of tip-off about the presence of some Maoists in the area, at around 7 am, a C-60 squad of police commandos launched an anti-Maoist combing operations. The police commandos were taken aback when hiding Maoists suddenly attacked them, triggering a fierce gunfight.
In the retaliatory fire by the police that continued for over five hours till 11 am, at least 16 Maoists were gunned down, said the official.
He said that the police during the course of combing operation has so far recovered 16 bodies of Maoists including some women.
The search operation is continuing in the forests to recover more bodies if any.
However, the process to identify the slain Maoists is on.
Officials believe that an entire active Dalam (unit) may have been wiped out in the gunfight along with its high-ranking commanders and other most-wanted Maoists.
Sunday’s is the single biggest police action against Maoists in the past 38 years since the birth of the Naxalite movement in the district.
As it continued to spread in the region, adjoining districts like Chandrapur and spilled over to neighbouring states in central India, the police deployed specialist trained forces to tackle the growing menace.