Twenty-two Naxalites have been arrested in three different search operations in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, Xinhua news agency quoted police as saying.

The search was conducted jointly by police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force based on concrete intelligence information in Bijapur district, about 443 km south of Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh state.

The police also claimed to have seized explosives from the arrested persons.