CRPF launches biggest operation of 2025; three Naxals killed

New Delhi/Raipur: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) along with Chhattisgarh police has killed three female Naxalites along the state's border with Telangana in the biggest offensive launched this year to neutralise most-wanted Maoist Hidma, officials said Thursday.

The operation launched from the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh to Karregutta hills in Mulugu district across the border in Telangana has clocked over 60 hours after it was launched on Monday with close to 5,000 troops apart from backup units.

The forces and Maoists were exchanging fire till the fore noon of Thursday and it is expected to continue, they said.

The assault is led by the 210th battalion of CRPF's CoBRA units and has teams from the Chhattisgarh police, its special task force (STF), DRG, some regular CRPF units and Telangana Police, they said.

Around 9:30 am on Thursday, three bodies of female Maoists along with an equal number of weapons has been seized. The operation is continuing, a senior CRPF officer told PTI.

CRPF Director General (DG) G P Singh is monitoring the operation from Raipur and Jagdalpur since April 21, he said.

About four helicopters, two drone squadrons comprising 20 big and small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in each along with satellite imagery and maps provided by the NTRO have been deployed to track Hidma, the top commander of the PLGA battalion no 1, the officer said.

Inputs suggested that Hidma was seen around a bunker built in the Karregutta Hills along with an armed squad and the operation was launched on this information, a second officer said.

This is the biggest operation launched by any of the security agencies in or around Chhattisgarh this year, he said.

The hill area is dotted with many improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the forces are still on the job, the officer said.

The offensive is part of the Union government's declaration to end Left Wing Extremism (LWE) from the country by March, 2026.

Chhattisgarh and its border areas remain the "last bastion" of this task, according to officials.