Nineteen Naxals held in Chhattisgarh

Raipur: As many as 19 Naxals, including three women, were on Monday arrested from separate places in insurgency-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

"While 12 cadres were apprehended from Chintagufa police station area, six were held from Gadiras and one from Kukanar," Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Santosh Singh said.

A joint squad of Central Reserve Police Force's 150th battalion, CoBRA's 206th battalion - CRPF's elite unit - District Reserve Group (DRG) and district force were carrying out an anti-Maoist operation in the interiors of Chintagufa, around 500 km from here, he said.

While cordoning off Minpa forest, security forces rounded up 12 suspects who later admitted to their association with the outlawed CPI (Maoist), the ASP said.

A muzzle loading gun, 11 iron rods, loudspeaker, wireless receiver, electric wire and other material were recovered from them, Singh said.

In a separate incident, six ultras, five of them carrying rewards on their head, were nabbed by local police from Chingavaram village under Gadiras police station limits, he said.

Of them, a woman Naxal, Hungi, was carrying a reward of Rs 5,000 on her head while two others - Dule and Gangi – were carrying a cash reward of Rs 1,000 each, the ASP said.

Singh added that two other arrested Naxals - Kosa and Deva - were carrying reward of Rs 2,000 each.