Nine suspected Maoists were killed on Tuesday in a gunfight with security forces on the border between Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada and Bijapur districts, The Indian Express reported quoting police officials.

An operation was undertaken in the area on Monday by a team comprising personnel from the District Reserve Guards and the Central Reserve Police Force. This came after they reportedly received information about the presence of around 40 suspected Maoists in the area.

On Tuesday, a gunfight began at around 10.30 am at Loha village, located in the forests of Purangel and Andri. The village is about 50 kilometres away from the Dantewada district headquarters in the Bastar administrative division.

“After the firing ended, search operations were carried out in which bodies of nine Naxals wearing PLGA [People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army of the banned Communist Party of India Maoist] uniform were found,” Dantewada Superintendent of Police Gaurav Rai said. “We are trying to identify them.”

A self-loading rifle, a .303 rifle and a .315 bore rifle, among other items, were recovered from the site, The Indian Express quoted unidentified officials as saying.

The security personnel were reported to be safe, Sunderaj P, inspector-general of police in the Bastar range, told PTI. The search operation in the area was still underway, he added.

So far this year, 154 suspected Maoists have been killed by security forces in gunfights in the state, PTI reported citing police officials.

In July and August, Scroll reported extensively on the conflict by travelling to the gunfight sites and speaking to the families of 37 of those killed, and published stories behind those numbers.

While several of those killed in Bastar this year have been declared by the police to be reward-carrying Maoists, some of the families dispute this claim. They said that the persons killed were civilians.

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