Two Maoists, with a bounty on their heads, were gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, police said on Saturday. The gunbattle broke out at around 11:30 pm on Friday in a forest near Kutrem village in the Kirandul police station area when a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and local police were out on an anti-Naxal operation, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava told PTI over the phone.

Two weapons recovered from the Maoists 

After a brief exchange of fire, when the security forces personnel tried to zero in on the ultras, they escaped into the dense forest taking advantage of darkness, he said. During a search of the encounter spot, the bodies of two ultras were found, Pallava said.
The extremists were identified as Lachu Mandavi and Podiya, both members of the Malangir area committee of the Maoists, the police said, adding that they were carrying cash rewards of Rs 5 lakh each on their heads. Two weapons - a foreign-made 9 mm pistol and a 12 bore rifle were also recovered. The pistol has 'Made in Italy' inscribed on it and investigation is underway to ascertain the source of the weapon, he added.

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Security forces have stepped up combing operations in the interior forests of Dantewada in view of the by-election to be held in the Dantewada Assembly constituency on September 23. Bypolls in the left-wing extremism-hit Dantewada seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) community, has been necessitated following the demise of BJP legislator Bhima Mandavi in a Maoist attack in April this year. 

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Major attack averted by CRPF 

On Thursday, during a search, 174 and 150 battalion teams of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) prevented a major conspiracy of Maoists on Jagargunda Road, Chhattisgarh. The CRPF team found a 20kg Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted by the Maoists. The team destroyed the IED which resulted in the forming of a large crater. The CRPF tweeted on the matter and congratulated the teams for avoiding a planned attack.

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