Six Naxal women were gunned down on Sunday in an encounter in the Naxal-infested Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. The encounter took place in the Kasansur jungles near Mandri village bordering Chhattisgarh.
The bodies of the dead women have not been identified yet. Their bodies are lying unclaimed at the Gadchiroli District Hospital.
Special IG, Anti-Naxal Operations Anuk Kumar Singh said the operation was launched on July 6. Seven C-60 parties and two COBRA parties were divided into four groups.
"One party which was travelling passing through the border range had an encounter with Naxals at around 10:30. The encounter went on for half an hour and after a thorough search we found around 25 to 30 Naxals there. They ran away. When we searched the area after the encounter we found the bodies of six women Naxal cadres. They were all in uniform," Mr Singh said.
"During the search, we also recovered one carbine machine gun, one 303 rifle, five 12-bore rifles, 13 hand grenades and several rounds of ammunition have also been recovered along with Naxal literature," he added.
The C-60 and COBRA commandos conducted the operation in difficult conditions. The odds were stacked against them as they had to cross a full flowing river and negotiate thick vegetation. The commandos also had to crawl for some of the distance in the slush to avoid being spotted.
With this encounter, security forces have managed to kill 23 Naxals in Gadchiroli district this year so far.