Raipur, Feb 3 (IANS) Eight Maoist guerrillas were Wednesday shot dead by the police in two gun-battles in Chhattisgarh’s violence-hit Bastar region, an official said.
The gun fights broke out in thickly forested areas in Bijapur district, some 450 km south of state capital Raipur.

“Seven Maoists were killed in a forested stretch under Bhairamgarh police station when a contingent of District Force and Special Police Officers (SPOs) raided a hideout of rebels and exchanged fire for more than an hour. Another guerrilla was gunned down under Bijapur police station area,” Superintendent of Police (Bijapur) Avinash Mohanty told IANS over phone.

He said that the bodies of all the ultras gunned down were recovered. Police found some weapons and explosives at both the gun battle sites, the official added.

Police search teams were combing nearby areas to recover more bodies of guerrillas, if any.

Chhattisgarh’s mineral-rich Bastar region, spread out over 40,000 sq km area and comprising five districts including Bijapur, is known as a nerve-centre of Maoist militancy in India where rebels have carried out a string of deadly attacks on police and civilians in recent years.