Naxals have admitted 18 ultras died in Jan 16 encounter in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur: Police

The encounter had taken place in the dense forest of the Pamed-Basaguda-Usoor axis of Bijapur district in the South Bastar division, after which bodies of 12 Naxalites, including five women were recovered.

Raipur: Maoists have admitted that 18 ultras were killed in the January 16 encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, six more than the previous figure of casualties arrived at from the bodies recovered, a top police official said on Saturday.

The encounter had taken place in the dense forest of the Pamed-Basaguda-Usoor axis of Bijapur district in the South Bastar division, after which bodies of 12 Naxalites, including five women, of the outlawed movement's People's Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) Battalion Number 1 and Central Regional Committee (CRC) Company were recovered.

The South Bastar Division Committee of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) has said in a statement that 18 Naxalites, including Telangana State Committee member Damodar, were killed in the encounter, Bastar Range Inspector General of Police Sundarraj P said.

The Naxalites have said in the statement that they managed to take away six bodies from the encounter site amid the gunfight, the IG added.

"This is a big setback to the Maoists in one of their strongholds," he said.

Sundarraj said Naxalites were claiming casualties among security forces and were alleging atrocities on villagers during the encounter just to keep the morale of the cadre high.

"The allegations are completely baseless. We will take this fight to finish and ensure the end of the Maoist menace," Sundarraj said.

Earlier, police had said it had identified 10 of the 12 ultras whose bodies were recovered.

These 10 carried a cumulative reward of Rs 59 lakh on their heads, police had said.

The District Reserve Guard (DRG) of Bijapur, Sukma and Dantewada districts, Special Task Force (STF), 229th battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and five battalions of CRPF's elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) units were involved in the January 16 operation.