At least 14 Maoists were killed in an encounter with the Chhattisgarh Police in the Gariaband district near the state's border with Odisha on Tuesday, according to reports from news agencies ANI and PTI, citing police sources. The total includes two women Maoists who were killed during the operation on Monday.

Among those neutralised was a Maoist carrying a bounty of ₹1 crore. Police added that the operation is ongoing, and the number of Maoist casualties may rise further.

Reacting to the development, Union Home Minister Amit Shah described the encounter as “another mighty blow to Naxalism.”

“Another mighty blow to Naxalism. Our security forces achieved major success towards building a Naxal-free Bharat. The CRPF, SoG Odisha and Chhattisgarh Police neutralised 14 Naxalites in a joint operation along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border. With our resolve for a Naxal-free India and the joint efforts of our security forces, Naxalism is breathing its last today,” Shah wrote in a post on X.

Following the killing of two women Maoists and the injury of a CoBRA jawan in an earlier encounter, fresh gunfire erupted late Monday night. It continued into Tuesday morning in a forest within the Mainpur police station area along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border. According to officials cited in a PTI report, 12 additional Maoists were killed during this phase of the operation.

A joint team of security forces comprising the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), CoBRA units from Chhattisgarh, and the Special Operation Group (SOG) from Odisha was involved in the mission.

Officials revealed that the operation commenced on the night of January 19, following intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists in the Kularighat reserve forest, located just 5 kilometres from the border of Odisha's Naupada district.

During the operation on Monday, two women Maoists were eliminated, and a substantial cache of firearms and ammunition and IEDs- including a self-loading rifle-was recovered from the encounter site, the official added.

The recent crackdown on Maoists aligns with the central government's commitment to “end Naxalism” by 2026, a pledge reiterated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. This resolve was emphasised following the tragic loss of eight District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawans and a driver in an IED explosion in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur on January 6.

The blast reportedly occurred on the Bedre-Kutru Road in the Bijapur district.

According to the Inspector General of Police, the DRG jawans from Dantewada were returning in a Scorpio vehicle after a joint operation involving teams from Dantewada, Narayanpur and Bijapur. IG Bastar confirmed the details of the joint operation.

The Maoist attack on the DRG, a specialised unit of the state police, was the most significant strike on security forces by Naxalites in the past two years, as per a report by PTI. The last major incident occurred on April 26, 2023, when ten police personnel and a civilian driver lost their lives after Naxals targeted a convoy of security personnel with an IED in the neighbouring Dantewada district.