Nine Naxalites, including two women, were killed in an encounter with security personnel in a forest along the borders of Narayanpur and Kanker districts in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, police said.
This is the second major strike on Naxalites by security forces in 15 days.
The latest gunfight took place at around 6 am in the forest between Tekmeta and Kakur villages in Abhujmad area, considered as a stronghold of Naxalites, when a joint team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) was out on an anti-Naxal operation, a senior police official told PTI.
After the exchange of fire stopped, bodies of seven Naxalites, including two women, were recovered from the spot, he said.
An AK-47 rifle and cache of other weapons and explosives were also seized from the spot, he said, adding that a search operation was still underway in the area.
The identity of the killed Naxalites were yet to be ascertained, the official said.
With this incident, 88 Naxalites have been killed so far this year in separate encounters with security forces in the state's Bastar region, comprising seven districts including Narayanpur and Kanker, according to police.
On April 16, 29 Naxalites were gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Kanker district.
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