NEW DELHI: Security forces on Thursday neutralised at least 10 Naxals in a major operation in Chhattisgarh’s Gariyaband, police said.Manoj alias Modem Balakrishna, a senior leader and Central Committee Member (CCM) of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), is among the deceased. Also known as Balanna, Ramachander and Bhaskar, he joined the movement in the 1980s and was considered one of the outfit’s top leaders.
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“Personnel of the Special Task Force (STF), district police unit E-30, CoBRA commandos of the CRPF and other state police forces are involved in the operation. Intermittent exchange of fire is still underway,” PTI quoted IG (Raipur Range) Amresh Mishra as saying.“10 Naxals, including senior cadres, have been gunned down so far,” Mishra said, adding that further details were awaited as the operation was still underway.The encounter broke out in the forests under Mainpur police station limits when security personnel, acting on intelligence inputs about the movement of senior Naxals, launched an operation more than 180 km from state capital Raipur.With this latest encounter, 241 Naxals have been neutralised in Chhattisgarh this year. Of them, 212 were killed in Bastar division, 27 in Gariaband under Raipur division, and two in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki in Durg division. Earlier in January, 16 Naxals were killed in an encounter in the same Mainpur area. Last year, 219 Naxals were neutralised in the state.
