Deadly Forest Clash: Two Women Maoists Gunned Down in Gadchiroli Encounter
Security forces neutralize two female Naxalites in a fierce gunbattle deep in Maharashtra's dense jungles.
In a swift and intense anti-Naxal operation, two women Maoists were killed during an early morning encounter with police in the rugged forests bordering Modaske village in Etapalli taluka, officials confirmed Wednesday.
The action unfolded after intelligence tipped off authorities about a small group from the Maoists' Gatta Local Organisation Squad (LOS) hunkered down in the area, prompting an immediate response from a joint team of Gadchiroli police and elite C-60 commandos. Launched from the nearby Aheri base, the five-unit C-60 squad—bolstered by CRPF personnel establishing a perimeter cordon—pushed into the thick undergrowth to flush out the insurgents.
Tensions erupted when the searching contingent came under a hail of indiscriminate fire from the hidden Naxalites, sparking a fierce retaliatory exchange that echoed through the remote terrain. As the gunfire subsided, a thorough sweep of the site uncovered the bodies of the two women cadres, alongside a cache of weapons and ideological paraphernalia underscoring the Maoists' ongoing defiance in the Red Corridor.
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Among the haul were a lethal AK-47 assault rifle, a high-tech pistol, stockpiles of live rounds, bundles of Naxalite propaganda literature, and personal effects belonging to the deceased. "This operation disrupts their local network and sends a clear message," a senior police official remarked, highlighting the strategic blow to the outlawed group's operations in the Maoist-hotbed district.
With the area still crawling with potential threats, the anti-Naxal dragnet remains active, as security forces comb the forests for any fleeing militants or additional arms dumps. Gadchiroli, long a flashpoint in India's battle against Left-Wing Extremism, has seen a surge in such confrontations, reflecting intensified efforts to reclaim remote tribal heartlands from insurgent control. Officials anticipate a detailed briefing soon, as the incident adds to the tally of operations underscoring the relentless push toward eradicating Maoist influence by 2026.
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