Nagpur, MAHARASHTRA: Ten alleged Maoists and two police personnel were killed in two different encounters in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh on Monday.
The first encounter took place in Sakler, Tondamarka-Soletong area on the border of Chhattisgarh and Telangana in the morning.
Chhattisgarh police's Anti-Naxal Operations (ANO) unit said in a statement that around 1,200 security personnel launched an operation in the Tondamarka-Soletong area, considered a Maoist stronghold, and that the exchange of fire from the resultant encounter lasted around one-and-a-half hours.
"We have information that more than a dozen Maoists were killed in this encounter. We have managed to recover bodies of 9 Maoists along with one SLR rifle, one Bolt Action gun, and ten other weapons," the statement added.
Two District Reserve Guard jawans, Derdo Rama and Madvi Joba, were also killed in the encounter.
In a separate incident, one suspected Maoist was killed in an encounter in Bijapur district in Bastar division.
This took place in the Nilamadgu area of Bijapur as a joint team of the DRG and the Special Task Force were carrying out an anti-Maoist search operation in the area.
The deceased Maoist has been identified as Kunna Sodi, a resident of Nilamadgu village.
Sukhram Gota, an auxiliary constable, suffered a bullet injury in his neck during the encounter and has been airlifted to state capital Raipur for treatment, the police statement said.
The state had witnessed increasing Maoist activities during the assembly election, which happened in two phases earlier this month.
The ANO said the killing of the Maoists was a result of its "Operation Prahar 4".
None of the nine Maoists killed in Tondamarka-Soletong encounter had been identified at the time of writing this report.