Raipur, April 26 -- A massive operation against Naxalites involving about 10,000 security personnel in a hilly region along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border continued for the fifth day on Friday, a senior official said.

It is believed that some 500 cadres of the banned CPI (Maoist) including top leaders are holed up in the area, and Telangana Police are assisting in the exercise, said the official who is monitoring the action on the ground.

The operation, one of biggest counter-insurgency actions launched in the Bastar region, involves personnel of different units including the District Reserve Guard, Bastar Fighters and Special Task Force of the Chhattisgarh police, the Central Reserve Police Force and its elite Commando Battalions for ...