Raipur, June 19 (IANS) In separate incidents, six Maoists were arrested Saturday after security forces raided a forest hideout, while two Maoists were killed in a gunfight in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, police said.
‘A squad of District Force (DF) and the Border Security Force (BSF) stormed a jungle base of the rebels in Kanker district on specific inputs and picked up six rebels. Several of their colleagues escaped and slipped away into nearby hilly area,’ Ajay Yadav, superintendent of police, told IANS over phone.
Kanker along with Bijapur, Bastar, Narayanpur and Dantewada districts form the Bastar region considered a Maoist hotbed.
Two Maoists were killed in a gun battle with police in Narayanpur district in a thickly forested area. Police have recovered both the bodies.
Police say nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Maoist violence in the state since its creation in November 2000. The casualties include nearly 1,000 civilians and 650 policemen.
