Further details were awaited (Representational)
A Maoist was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Thursday, a top police official said.
The encounter took place in forests under the Mirtur police station area adjoining Dantewada district when a joint team of security forces was out on a counter-insurgency operation, Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P told news agency PTI.
Personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) had launched the operation in jungles straddling Dantewada-Bijapur districts, he said.
When the patrolling team was cordoning off a patch of forest in Mirtur, located around 450 km from the capital Raipur, an exchange of fire broke out between the two sides, he said.
After guns fell silent, the body of a male ultra was recovered from the encounter spot, he said.
Further details were awaited as the search operation was still underway in the area, he added.