5 Naxals killed in Bastar gunfight

Five Naxalites were killed and two security personnel injured in an anti-insurgency operation in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region on Saturday, a senior police official said.

The gunfight broke out around 8 am in a forest in north Abujhmad along the border of Narayanpur and Kanker districts when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, he said. Personnel belonging to the Border Security Force (BSF), District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) were involved in the operation, he said. The bodies of five Naxalites and a cache of firearms have been recovered from the spot so far, the official said, adding a search operation was still underway in the area. Two security men sustained injuries in the exchange of fire.