According to the police, four villagers of Bastar were injured when the Maoists used them as human shields

New details emerged about last week’s encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Abujmad as police claimed on Tuesday that Naxals used villagers, including minors, in a failed attempt to save the life of their senior activist, Karthik. were

Karthik was among seven Naxalites killed in an encounter on December 12 and at least four civilians sustained bullet injuries, police said.

On November 12, in an encounter between Maoists and security forces in the jungle hills of Kalhaja-Donderbera in southern Abujahmad region, the bodies of seven armed Maoists, including five men and two women, were found, including Karthik alias Dasru, who was their Odisha State Committee member and was carrying a reward of ₹ 25 lakh. , a senior police officer said.

“According to initial information, the villagers were kept together to carry the belongings of the Naxalites and during the encounter, the security forces opened fire under the cover of these villagers in which four villagers were reportedly injured,” a police said. After reading the statement issued on Tuesday evening, it said that more details are being collected regarding the incident.

The operation was carried out by District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel from Kondagaon, Bastar, Narayanpur and Dantewada, along with the state’s Special Task Force (STF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). They had advanced after receiving information about the presence of Maoists in Abujamad, a dense and vast forested area comprising the districts of Bijapur, Dantewada and Narayanpur.

A senior police officer said that information was received that many more Maoists were injured in the encounter and the Maoists were receiving treatment in the forest area around them and the process of confirming the same was underway.

There has been an increase in the actions taken by the security forces in the conflict-affected Bastar region since last one year. In his recent visit to the state that concluded on Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Naxalism, an internal security challenge mainly centered in Chhattisgarh, would end by March 2026.