RAIPUR: Maoist casualties in Wednesday’s operation by security personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region rose to 18 after six more bodies, including wanted PLGA commander Vella Modiyam, were retrieved Thursday from the gunfight site along the Dantewada-Bijapur border.Nine of the slain guerrillas, who had a combined bounty of Rs 1.3 crore on their heads, were women. Three security personnel were killed in the fighting. The operation dealt what police said was a decisive blow to the Maoist citadel in Gangaloor. “Vella, aka Mangu Modiyam, was the Maoists’ operational and intelligence commander in Gangaloor and involved in multiple crimes, including the killing of a minor, a student and a villager in Peddakorma,” Bastar IGP Sundarraj said.CM Vishnu Deo Sai lauded the personnel involved in the operation, saying the bravery of the trio killed in action “won’t go in vain”. His deputy Vijay Sharma said Naxalism in Chhattisgarh was now on its “last legs”, with forces engaged in a mop-up across Bastar.