Narayanpur, June 8: At least seven Naxals were killed in an encounter with District Reserve Group (DRG) personnel along the inter-district border of Narayanpur, Dantewada and Kondagaon, a senior police official said.

"Weapons have been recovered. Operation is underway," Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Prabhat Kumar said.
Seven bodies of the naxals were recovered from the encounter site, he said.

Three Jawans of the Narayanpur DRG, who were injured in the encounter that took place on Friday night, were airlifted to a hospital from the Gobel area under the East Bastar Division.

A joint team of DRG from Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Dantewada and Jagdalpur along with the 45th Battalion of ITBP were out on anti-Maoist operation in the Abujhmad area when the Maoists opened fire on the forces and the attack was swiftly retaliated, police said.

Earlier, on June 2, Naxalites set a mobile tower on fire in Durmi village in the Narayanpur district.

On May 25, two Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces in the forest of Jappemarka and Kamkanar in Bijapur.
Naxalism in Chhattisgarh has been a persistent challenge for both the state and central governments.

The dense forests and difficult terrain of the region have provided a conducive environment for Naxal groups to operate and establish their base in the state.

Earlier, in May, in an exclusive interview with ANI, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the government has taken decisive steps to tackle Naxalism and the country will be free of the problem in the next two to three years.

Shah said that efforts made by the BJP-led government have led to welfare schemes reaching those tribal areas which had remained bereft of them.

He said Jharkhand, Bihar, Telangana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are completely free of Naxalism and the problem persists in three or four districts of Chhattisgarh.

"I think that in the next 2-3 years, the country will be completely free of Naxal issue. After the BJP government came to power in Chhattisgarh, within just 4.5 months, 112 naxals have been neutralised, around 375 have surrendered and 153 have been arrested...On the contrary, Congress says that fake encounters are being done," Shah said.

(ANI)

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