LOC18:05
15:05 GMT
NEW DELHI, May 23 (KUNA) -- Seven Maoist rebels were gunned down in an encounter with security personnel in central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, Indian police said on Thursday.
A joint team of security personnel launched an anti-Maoist operation after receiving intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists in a forest along Narayanpur-Bijapur inter-district border in Chhattisgarh, the Press Trust of India said quoting Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Prabhat Kumar.
A gunfight broke out around 11 am local time, resulting in the killing of seven rebels in Maoist uniform, it said.
Personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard from Dantewada, Narayanpur and Bastar districts and Special Task Force of state police were involved in the operation, it added.
So far, 112 Maoists have been killed this year in separate operations in the state. Maoist rebels are active in various Indian states including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar and Maharashtra.
The banned group is waging an armed struggle for decades against the government and its developmental projects in order to establish a communist society toppling the current system which they call as semi-feudal and semi-colonial. (end)
atk.mt