INDIAN security forces shot dead a senior Maoist rebel commander and three other fighters, including two women, during a raid in the eastern state of Odisha, police said on Thursday, marking another blow in the government’s intensified campaign against the insurgents.
AFP cited Police saying today that the operation took place in Kandhamal district after security forces acted on intelligence about the presence of Ganesh Uike, the top Maoist leader in the coastal state. Uike, aged 69, was one of the most wanted figures in the insurgency and carried a bounty of more than US$120,000.
“Four dead bodies of Maoists” were recovered following the gunfight, Odisha’s top police officer Yogesh Bahadur Khurania said, confirming that one of those killed was Uike.
Khurania said the remaining three victims, comprising two women and one man, were also Maoist fighters, adding that efforts were under way to establish their identities. He said no members of the security forces were injured in the encounter.
The latest clash follows another operation in the same state on Wednesday in which two Maoist fighters were killed, underscoring the stepped-up pace of security actions in the region.
New Delhi has launched what it describes as an all-out campaign to eliminate the remnants of the Maoist movement, also known as the Naxalite rebellion, and has vowed to bring the insurgency to an end by March 2026.
The rebellion takes its name from Naxalbari, a village in the Himalayan foothills where the Maoist-inspired uprising began nearly six decades ago. At its height in the mid-2000s, the movement controlled large swathes of territory across central and eastern India and was believed to have between 15,000 and 20,000 fighters.
While the insurgency has been significantly weakened in recent years, sporadic violence continues in forested and remote areas. According to the Indian government, more than 500 Maoist rebels have been killed since 2024 as security forces tighten their grip on remaining strongholds. - December 26, 2025
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