As many as 208 Maoist cadres, including a central committee member, laid down arms before authorities in Chhattisgarh’s Jagdalpur on Friday, making it the largest mass surrender in the history of anti-Naxal operations in the state, officials said.

The 98 men and 110 women cadres, all members of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) carrying a collective reward of Rs 9.18 crore, gave up 153 arms before state Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and other leaders. The weapons include 19 AK-47 rifles, 17 SLR rifles, 23 INSAS rifles, an INSAS LMG, 36 .303 rifles, 11 BGL launchers, four carbines, 41 bore single shotguns and a pistol.

With this, most of North Abujhmad is now relatively free of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) and only South Bastar remains to be freed from Naxal violence, official sources said.

Officia

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