Nagpur: Two women Maoists were killed after a fierce gun-battle in the forests of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra on Monday, an official said.
According to an official spokesperson, the gun-fight took place when a security team of the CRPF and Anti-Naxal Operations (ANO) was conducting combing operations in the Maoist-infested Nihaikal jungles of the district.
Suddenly, some Maoists hiding there opened indiscriminate fire on the security team, which retaliated and continued to push them deeper inside.
Nearly half an hour after the gun-battle, the security forces launched a search operation and found bodies of two women Maoists sporting army fatigues lying in the vicinity.
One of them has been identified as Babita Narsu Gavde, 28, of Dhanora and a member of a Maoist Platoon No 15, while the identity of the second woman is yet to be ascertained.
Gavde had 16 major offences registered against her ranging from murder to kidnapping to attacks on security forces and carried a Rs 400,000 reward on her head.
The security forces are continuing a massive combing operation to trace out Maoists who may have been injured or fallen to their bullets in the morning encounter, said the official.
Maoist "deputy commander" killed in Chhattisgarh
A Maoist "deputy commander" was Monday gunned down in an exchange of fire with security forces in Chhattisgarhs Sukma district, police said.
The gun-battle took place in the forest of Pandupara village when a team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on an anti-naxal operation in the afternoon, Special Director General (anti-naxal operation) D M Awasthi told PTI.
The squad of DRG, the state police's counter- insurgency force, had launched the operation towards Sirsetti and Muler villages, located around 500km from the capital Raipur, Sunday night, he said.
When the patrolling team was cordoning off forest near Panudpara Monday, it came under fire from a group of Maoists that led to the gunfight.
After a brief exchange of fire, the Maoists fled into the core forest area, the senior police officer added.
During a search of the spot, the troops recovered the body of a rebel who was identified as Chinga, a "deputy commander" of the Kerlapal area committee of Maoists, Awasthi said.
Further details were awaited as the search operation was still underway in the region, he added.
