Raipur: Five Maoists killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region last week were senior cadres, carrying a total bounty of Rs 28 lakh, a senior police official said on Monday.

On Saturday, police reported that five Maoists, including two women, were killed in an encounter with security forces during a joint anti-maoist operation in the Abhujmaad area, near the Narayanpur-Kanker inter-district border. 

Among the deceased, woman cadre Vanoja Micha Karam, a divisional committee member, had a bounty of Rs 8 lakh, according to Kanker Superintendent of Police Indira Kalyan Elesela.

The other deceased included Suresh Gavde, an area committee member, along with party members Santosh Kurchami, Manish Padda, and Punita. According to the police, each of them had a bounty of Rs 5 lakh.

The official said the security personnel recovered an SLR (Self-Loading Rifle), an INSAS rifle, a 12-bore rifle and a .315-bore rifle, a barrel grenade launcher (BGL) and a huge cache of explosives items from the encounter site.

While returning from the operation, the security forces on Sunday recovered two IEDs planted by Maoist-s and neutralised them, he said.

According to police, this year alone, bodies of 197 Naxalites have been recovered in separate encounters in the Bastar division, comprising Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma districts.

(with agency inputs)