Overview
- A joint team of District Reserve Guard units from Bijapur and Dantewada with the Special Task Force opened fire with insurgents around 10 a.m., with exchanges continuing into the evening.
- Security forces recovered six bodies along with an INSAS rifle, a Sten gun, a .303 rifle, ammunition, explosives and Maoist paraphernalia from the site.
- One injured cadre was taken into custody from the encounter area and moved to a secure medical facility, where questioning has begun.
- Reinforcements from DRG, STF, Bastar Fighters, CRPF and the Chhattisgarh Armed Force have cordoned adjacent forest tracts as searches continue and identification of the deceased is pending.
- Officials link the action to this year’s sustained campaign in Bastar, with police reporting 259 Maoists killed statewide in 2025 as the chief minister reiterates the goal of ending Naxalism by March 2026.