Bhubaneswar, Sept. 28: Security forces appear to have breached Malkangiri, long considered to be an impregnable Maoist fortress.

Stepped up operation by state police and paramilitary forces in the district has yielded encouraging results with around 700 Maoist supporters and militia members surrendering in the last fortnight.

The Maoists were dealt a hard blow when security forces gunned down three rebels, including Sunadhar, an area committee member of the Darbha Divisional Committee of CPI(Maoist), at Bhejaguda forest in Malkangiri on September 19.

Sunadhar, who was also wanted by National Investigation Agency for his alleged involvement in the ambush of a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh's Darbha valley in May 2013, had a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head in the neighbouring state and Rs 5 lakh in Odisha. His killing was the second major success against the Maoists in Malkangiri after a joint team of the SOG and the District Voluntary Force (DVF) gunned down 13 rebels at the Silakota forests of the district on September 14, 2013.

Director general of police Sanjeev Marik, who visited Malkangiri last week to review the situation in the district, said: "People are fed up with the Maoists, and many of the rebels, too, are getting increasingly disillusioned with the life of violence they have been leading. No wonder surrenders are taking place in large numbers."

Marik claimed that there were hardly any Odia Maoists left in the state, with rebel activities now being carried out by cadre from the neighbouring states.

Malkangiri superintendent of police Mitrabhanu Mohapatra said supporters and militia members were deserting the Maoists as they had come to realise that the so-called revolution promised by the rebels was actually anti-development.

"Realisation has dawned that they have received nothing in return for extending support to the Maoists. In fact, their villages have remained underdeveloped due to the presence of the rebels," he said.

The government is supplementing the intensified police action against the rebels with its development drive in the district.

It is now focusing on the completion of the crucial Gurupriya bridge that would connect around seven panchayats in Malkangiri's "cut-off" area, so called because of its difficult terrain and poor link with other parts of the state.

Development commissioner U.N. Behera visited the district on Sunday with works secretary Nalini Pradhan and additional water resources secretary R. Santhagopalan to review the progress of the bridge and other development projects in the area.

Work on the bridge, which had been hanging fire for the last two decades because of the Maoist threat, began last May with two battalions of Border Security Force BSF keeping a tight vigil.