Gariaband: At least 14 Naxals were killed in an encounter with Police at the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border on Monday. According to the police, a member of the Naxal group, who had a bounty of 1 crore rupees on his head, was also killed in the encounter. The encounter is still underway and more details are awaited on the matter. Earlier incidents On January 17, two Border Security Force (BSF) jawans sustained injuries after Naxals set off an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district. The incident happened when in the morning when a BSF road-opening party was being deployed up between Camp Garpa and Garpa village, added the police official. The incident has been confirmed by Narayanpur SP Prabhat Kumar and detailed information will be shared by the officials later in the day. On January 16, two CRPF jawans were injured in a pressure IED blast planted by Naxalites near Putkel village under the Basaguda police station in Bijapur district. On January 12, five Naxalites including two women were killed in an encounter with security forces in Bijapur. Several automatic and other weapons and explosives were recovered from the forests under the National Park area of the Bijapur district. Recovered weapons The recovered weapons included one SLR rifle, one 12-bore rifle, two single-shot rifles, one BGL launcher, and one locally made Bharmar gun, along with explosives, Maoist literature, and other Naxal materials. Speaking to media about the South Bastar naxal encounter, IG Bastar P Sundarraj said, "Bodies of 12 Naxalites, including 5 women, were recovered in the encounter that took place at 9 pm between security forces and Naxalites on January 16." "A large number of arms and ammunition were also recovered. We are moving ahead in our goal of taking action against Naxalism," said P Sundarraj.
