In all, 12 Maoists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, according to the police. 

The encounter took place on Sunday morning, a week after eight Maoists were killed in another operation security forces had launched in Bijapur district. 

The gunfight in which eight Maoists were killed broke out on January 31 when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Maoist operation, news agency PTI quoted a senior police official as saying. 

Personnel of the District Reserve Guard and Special Task Force of the state police along with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) were involved in the operation.

Reports state that the operation was launched on Friday after receiving information about the presence of cadres of the `West Bastar division' of the Maoists in the area.

The security operations come in line with the central government's vow to “end Naxalism” by 2026, which Home Minister Amit Shah had reiterated on January 6 after eight District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawans and one driver lost their lives when their vehicle was blown up by Maoists using an IED in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur. 

The blast reportedly took place on the Bedre-Kutru Road in Bijapur district. The jawans of DRG Dantewada were returning in a Scorpio after a joint operation, the IG said. The joint operation was of Dantewada, Narayanpur, and Bijapur, IG Bastar added. 

The Maoist attack on DRG, a unit of the state police, was the biggest strike on security personnel by Maoists in the last two years, PTI quoted an official. On April 26, 2023, ten police personnel and a civilian driver were killed after Maoists blew up their vehicle, which was part of a convoy carrying security personnel in neighbouring Dantewada district. 

Home Minister Amit Shah took to microblogging platform X and said he was deeply saddened by the news of the loss of DRG soldiers in the IED blast in Bijapur. “It is impossible to express this grief in words, but I assure you that the sacrifice of our soldiers will not go in vain.