Encounter breaks out between police and Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Sukma

An encounter broke out between security forces and Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Tuesday morning, a senior police official said.

The exchange of fire started out on a forested hill in the district when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxal operation in the area, he said.

Personnel belonging to the Special Task Force (STF), District Reserve Guard (DRG), both units of the state police, and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), were involved in the operation launched on Monday based on inputs about the presence of Maoists in the area, he said.

The operation was still underway and further details were awaited, he added.

As many as 225 Naxalites have been killed in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year. Of them, 208 were eliminated in the Bastar division, which includes Bijapur, Bastar, Kanker, Konadagaon, Narayanpur, Sukma and Dantewada districts.