For six days now, security forces have surrounded and are tactfully scaling Bijapur’s Karregutta hills, which are as high as 700 metres and stretch around 20 kilometres along the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border. It is here that they believe key members of the Maoist leadership are holed up, being safeguarded by Battalion 1, the most dangerous unit of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA).
At least three Maoists were killed, and all of them were women. While three bodies have been recovered as of Thursday evening (April 24), the police suspect that more Maoists may have been killed, even as an exchange of fire was reported in a forest in the Karegutta hills in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, along the inter-State border.
The operation was launched on Monday based on intelligence inputs about the presence of senior cadres of Battalion no. 1 — which is considered the strongest military formation of Maoists — and the Telangana State Committee of Maoists. It is also learnt that the forces are zeroing in on some of the top Maoist leaders. In fact, the police suspect that the women cadre who were killed were members of Battalion no. 1. The police also said that they had recovered heavy quantities of arms and ammunition, besides other articles used by the Maoists.
Officials said this push in Dandakaranya could be the “climax” of the relentless anti-Naxal operations that began in 2024 and have so far led to the killing of 363 Maoists and the “squeezing” of the Maoist leadership to the hills.
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