Eight Naxalites and one security personnel was killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district, said officials. Two other security personnel sustained injuries in the incident, they added.
The gunfight broke out in the forest of Abhujmad when a joint team of the security personnel from four districts -- Narayanpur, Kanker, Dantewada and Kondagaon -- was out on an anti-Naxal operation on Saturday morning.
Officials noted that the exchange of fire was still underway.
"Eight Naxalites have been killed in the face-off so far. One jawan was martyred in the gunfight and two others suffered injuries," a senior police official in Raipur said.
Personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) from four districts, the Special Task Force (STF) and the 53rd battalion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was launched on June 12.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai expressed grief over the passing of the STF jawan and for those injured.
Sai said that the injured jawans were being airlifted to the capital of Raipur for treatment. "I pray to God for the peace of the soul of the martyred jawan and the speedy recovery of the injured jawans," he added.
Noting the disturbances caused by the Naxals, the CM said that the state government is "fully prepared to eliminate them and we will not sit quiet until the goal is achieved".
Just last week, seven Naxalites were killed and three jawans injured in an encounter in Narayanpur. Officials said that the gunfight took place around 3 pm in a forest near Gobel and Thulthuli villages in Orchha area, where a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation.
The official said that the personnel belonging to the police's DRG from Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Dantewada and Bastar districts and the 45th battalion of ITBP were involved in the operation.
With this, over 130 Naxalites have been killed in separate encounters with security forces in the state so far this year.
On May 23, seven Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in the forest on the Narayanpur-Bijapur inter-district border, while 12 were gunned down in Bijapur on May 10.
Three woman among the ten Naxalites were killed in an encounter in a forest along the border of Narayanpur and Kanker districts on April 30, and 29 died in an encounter in Kanker district on April 16, police said.
