Chhattisgarh: 14 suspected Maoists killed in two separate gunfights in Sukma and Bijapur

Fourteen suspected Maoists were killed in two separate gunfights with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma and Bijapur districts on Saturday, The New Indian Express reported.

This was the first gunfight between suspected Maoists and security forces this year.

The gunfights took place after intelligence inputs were received about the alleged presence of Maoists in the Basaguda-Tarrem forest area in Bijapur and the Konta-Kistaram jungles of Sukma.

Subsequently, District Reserve Guard personnel launched separate search operations in the districts.

An unidentified officer told The Hindu that “intermittent encounters between the DRG and Maoists have been ongoing in Bijapur district since approximately 5 am, while intermittent exchanges of fire between security forces and Naxalites have continued in Sukma district since approximately 8 am.”

Sundarraj P, inspector general of police for the Bastar range, told The New Indian Express that the bodies of 12 suspected Maoists have been recovered from Sukma and two from Bijapur so far.

Search operations were still underway at several locations in both districts.

This came days after key Maoist leader Ganesh Uike was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Odisha’s Kandhamal district on December 25. Uike was the chief of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) in Odisha.

Apart from Uike, who carried a reward of Rs 1.1 crore, three suspected Maoists were also killed in the gunfight, which took place in a forest in the Chakapad police station area.

On December 16, the Union government told Parliament that 335 “Left-wing extremists” had been killed, while 2,167 others had surrendered in 2025. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told the Lok Sabha that 942 Left-wing extremists had been arrested this year.

Overall 1,841 such persons had been killed, over 16,000 had been arrested, while 9,588 others had surrendered since 2014.

The Union government has vowed to end Maoism by March 31, 2026.

In October, the Union home ministry said that the number of districts across states affected by “Left-wing extremism” has come down to 11 from 18 in March.

In 2025, the number of “most affected” districts has also come down from six to three, it added. These are Bijapur, Sukma and Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh.

In the course of the Union government’s anti-Maoist offensive this year, key Maoist leaders like Uike and Madvi Hidma have been killed, while others like Vikas Nagpure alias Anant and Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Bhupathi have surrendered.

A report by Malini Subramaniam for Scroll on Hidma’s killing noted that in the Andhra Pradesh village closest to where he was killed, no one heard gunfire.

She had earlier reported that while many of those killed in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region in 2024 were declared by the police to be reward-carrying Maoists, several families dispute the claim. The families claim that the persons killed were civilians.

Civil liberties groups and Opposition parties have also questioned some of these killings, alleging that they constitute “fake encounters”.