Five Maoists, including two women, were killed in an encounter with security forces at Chaibasa in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district on Monday, officials said.
The exchange of fire took place near Lipunga under Gua police station limits, around 200 km from the State capital Ranchi.
“Five Maoists were killed in an encounter with the security forces. One of the deceased was a zonal commander, another was a sub-zonal commander and the rest were squad members. Two Maoists were apprehended, one of them being an area commander and the other a squad member. The encounter took place between 5:15 a.m. and 5:40 a.m. The security forces suffered no injuries,“ Jharkhand police spokesperson and Inspector-General (Operation) Amol V. Homkar told The Hindu.
Personnel of the Chaibasa Police, Jharkhand Jaguar, and Cobra battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were involved in the operation. The team also recovered weapons including one INSAS rifle, two SLRs (self-loading rifles), one .303 (rifle), two bolt-action rifles, a 9 mm pistol, 13 detonators, Naxal literature, medicines, tents, blankets and other material.
The deceased were identified as Kande Honhaga alias Govind Nagduwar (zonal commander), Jonga alias Turkey (squad member); Surya alias Manta Devgam (squad member); Sapni Hansda (squad member) from Chaibasa; and Singrai alias Manoj Kumar (sub-zonal commander) of Chhattisgarh.
The arrested persons include Tiger alias Pandu Hansda and Batari, both from Chaibasa.
According to officials, Singrai carried a bounty of ₹10 lakh while Honhaga carried a bounty of ₹5 lakh. Both were allegedly improvised explosive device (IED) experts.
