Thirty-one Maoists and two security personnel were killed in a gunfight in the jungles of Indravati National Park in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Sunday, police said, in the biggest ambush on Left Wing Extremists this year, which took the 2025 toll to 81.
The strike followed an anti-Maoist operation by security forces which began on Friday, inspector general of police (Bastar Range) Sunderraj P said, adding that the encounter took place around 8am. The IG said the operation was launched after security forces received specific inputs about the presence of insurgents from the National Park Area Committee, of the CPI (Maoist).
“A team comprising district reserve guard (DRG), Bastar fighters, special task force (STF), and other units moved towards the national park area in Bijapur on Friday. On Sunday, at around 8am, a fierce encounter broke out with the Maoists in the dense forest hills between the Maddeda-Farsegarh border area. The gunfight continued intermittently until 4pm,” said the IG. The teams comprised 650 soldiers.
The IG added that after the encounter, the teams recovered the bodies of 31 hardcore uniformed Maoists, along with weapons and other materials. “A large cache of weapons, including AK47, SLR, INSAS rifles, .303 rifles, BGL launchers, and explosives, has been recovered from the encounter site,” Sunderraj said.
Bijapur superintendent of police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said that efforts were on to identify the deceased insurgents. The two security personnel who lost their lives in the battle were identified as DRG head constable Naresh Dhruv, who was a resident of Baloda Bazar – Bhatapar district and STF constable Wasit Rawate, a resident of Balod district. Their mortal remains have been brought to Bijapur district headquarters, Yadav said.
Soon after the development, Union home minister Amit Shah reiterated the Centre’s intention to eradicate LWE by March 31, 2026, saying “No citizen of the country has to lose his life due to it”. “I reiterate my resolve that before 31 March, 2026, we will completely eradicate Naxalism from the country so that no citizen of the country has to lose his life due to it,” he wrote on X in Hindi.
He also condoled the death of two soldiers. “I express my heartfelt condolences to the families of the martyred soldiers,” he said.
Two security personnel also sustained minor injuries in the operation, identified as DRG constable Jaggu Kalmu and STF constable Gulab Mandavi, and were airlifted by the Indian Air Force and brought to Raipur. They are said to be out of danger, the officer said.
Additional reinforcements, including DRG, STF, Bastar fighters, and CRPF personnel have been deployed, police said. “The security forces in Bastar division have continued their successful anti-Naxal operations in 2025, maintaining the momentum from 2024. As a result, in the past 40 days, a total of 65 hardcore Maoists have been killed,” the IG said.
In line with Shah’s statement, Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai expressed confidence that the state will be free of Maoism by March 2026. He referred to Maoism as a “cancer” that is gradually being eliminated from the state and country. “The sacrifice of our soldiers will not go in vain. I pray to God for the departed souls to rest in peace and provide strength to the bereaved families, and for the speedy recovery of the injured jawans,” Sai said in Raipur.
Deputy CM Vijay Sharma said the national park area in Bijapur was considered a safe haven for Maoists, where more than 650 security personnel entered from different sides.
Sunday’s ambush builds on the previous aggressive operations carried out against extremists in the region. The last operation where over 30 Maoists were neutralised was in October 2024, when 38 Maoists were killed on the Dantewada-Narayanpur border.
Earlier in January, Maoists carried out an intense attack on security personnel, killing nine people in Bijapur, using an improvised explosive device to blow up a vehicle carrying members of the DRG and a civilian driver. It was the first major strike on security forces in the state in two years.
Following this, a series of operations were carried out by security forces in the region. On January 20, security forces gunned down 16 Maoists in the jungle bordering Odisha. On January 16, 12 Maoists were killed in an encounter in Bijapur. Later, Maoists, in a statement, admitted that 18 cadres were killed in the January 16 gunfight.
On January 20, security forces gunned down 16 Maoists in the jungle bordering Odisha. A central committee member and senior Maoists were killed in the encounter. On February 2, eight Maoists were killed in a gunfight in Bijapur district.
Bijapur is part of the Bastar division, which includes six other districts — Bastar, Dantewada, Kanker, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Sukma — that form the epicentre of Maoist insurgency. The government has deployed thousands of forces to battle the rebels across the insurgent-dominated region known as the “Red Corridor”. In 2024, security forces killed 219 Maoists in a string of high-profile encounters that aimed to push back extremists, take over their jungle hideouts and cripple their fortifications. The most killings have occurred in Bijapur, 61. The encounters are part of a broader government offensive against the Maoists, constructing roads and setting up camps in districts and areas that were once plagued by LWE.