Encounter underway between BSF and Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Pankhajur

An encounter in underway between the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Pankhajur area.

The encounter comes weeks after 26 CRPF jawans of the 74th Battalion were killed when they were assisting locals in road building and clearing activity in the district.

Following this, as many as 19 Naxalites, nine of them allegedly involved in the deadly attack on CRPF personnel, were arrested from separate places in Sukma district.

On Monday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh called for "unity of purpose" amongst all Naxal-affected states, and advocated the formation of a strategic and unified command to foil attempts to 'stall development and throttle democracy at gunpoint.'

Around 12,000 people have lost their lives to Maoist violence in last 20 years, he said, expressing "confidence that together, with the new strategy and new force, we will confront the Naxals and will be successful against them".