RAIPUR: A Maoist cadre was gunned down in an exchange of fire with security forces at the forested hilly terrain of Pamlur village in an edgy district of Sukma, about 450 km south of Raipur, the police said on Tuesday.The police have recovered the body along with a weapon from the encounter site.“Based on a tip-off about the presence of Maoists cadres belong to the Konta-Kistaram Area committee of the outlawed left-wing extremists at the specific location close to Kistaram, a joint team of security forces comprising personnel from District Reserve Guard (DRG), Bastar Fighters, Cobra battalion 206 & 208 and CRPF battalion 131 was out on the search operation. The Maoists opened fire on the troops resulting in a gunfight on 07 October late evening at Pamlur forest landscape”, said the Bastar police.The Maoist killed in the encounter has been identified as Lokesh, a member of the Kistaram Area Committee of the banned outfit.The remaining Maoists camping in the area are believed to have managed to escape into the nearby jungle after the gun battle. There was however no report of any injury sustained by the forces engaged in the gun-battle.The search operation by the security forces continues with the help of reinforcement in the area.So far 189 cadres of the Maoists have been neutralised by security forces, 673 cadres arrested and 572 surrendered this year since January in the conflict-ridden Bastar zone.
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