Five Naxals killed in encounter in Gadchiroli

Five Naxals including two women were killed in an encounter with Gadchiroli police in the Khobramendha forest area in Gadchiroli district on Monday morning.

The police had launched a combing operation on Saturday and exchanged fire with the naxals. Three pressure cooker bombs were among the items recovered by the police after the naxals fled. On Monday, the security forces regrouped and ran into a group of 25 naxals at around 7.30 am.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Gadchiroli range) Sandip Patil told The Indian Express, “An encounter between a group of about 25 Naxals and C60 Commandos of Gadchiroli police happened on Monday morning around 7.30 am during an intelligence-based operation, in which three Naxal men and two Naxal women have been killed. Our men had launched the operation on Saturday and had two exchanges of fire with the Naxals on the day. Naxals, however, managed to flee leaving behind a large material including one 303 rifle magazine and cartridges, three pressure cooker bombs, bundle of electric wires, solar plates, firecracker bombs and a large cache of daily use material and medicines. The 10 C60 parties comprising about 250 men subsequently withdrew and eight new parties comprisinf about 200 men were pressed into action on Sunday evening. Monday’s encounter happened with these new parties.”

Patil added, “The Naxalites belonged to Tipagad dalam and Company 4 formation comprising about 25 persons.”