RAIPUR: The outlawed CPI (Maoist) issued a press statement stating that they had lost 35 ‘comrades’ in an exchange of fire with security forces along the inter-district border area of Dantewada and Narayanpur in south Chhattisgarh on October 4.Officially the toll of Maoist cadres killed in the gun battle was 31, the highest ever achieved in any anti-Maoist operation so far in Chhattisgarh and cited to be the Maoists’ biggest loss in their four-decade revolutionary history in the conflict-ridden Bastar.It is believed that the four rebels engaged in gun battle might have later succumbed to their critical injuries, taking the toll to 35.In the press note, the banned outfit has listed the names of their comrades killed in the gunfight along with the positions they held in the organisation.The Bastar police after the October 4 encounter had then suspected that the Maoist brigade might have suffered more casualties as the ultras in their usual practice carry the injured or bodies of their cadres while fleeing.On 16 April 2024, 29 cadres of Maoists were neutralised, the earlier big casualty inflicted by forces in one of the biggest offensives planned in Kanker district, north Bastar.The release issued by the East Bastar Divisional Committee of the CPI (Maoist) briefly highlighted how the rebels were cornered and ambushed by the forcesThe Union Home Minister Amit Shah applauding the recent success against the left-wing extremists in the Bastar region has urged all other Maoist-affected states during a review meeting in Delhi “to adopt Chhattisgarh’s model of operations that incorporate intelligence, technology and effective inter-agency coordination”.The security forces in Chhattisgarh are carrying out aggressive anti-Maoist operations under the new regime with a renewed strategy targeting the rebels in the areas considered as their strongholds.
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