2 CRPF jawans killed in Maoist ambush

Two CRPF jawans were killed and eight others injured in a powerful landmine blast triggered by Maoists in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Sunday.

Two CRPF jawans were killed and eight others injured in a powerful landmine blast triggered by Maoists in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Sunday.

The condition of at least three of the injured jawans is said to be critical. All the injured were airlifted to Chhattisgarh capital Raipur by chopper for treatment.

Superintendent of police Neeraj Chandrakar said the Maoists first triggered an IED and then fired indiscriminately on the jawans near Bhejji, about 450 km south of Raipur in the morning.

Though the jawans retaliated fire, deputy commandant Nehal Anand and constable Raju Rawat were killed in the attack, Chandrakar told Hindustan Times.

Additional forces have been rushed to the area.

In another incident, security forces claimed they shot dead three Maoists in a gunfight in Bade Kakler village in Bijapur district, about 400 km south of Raipur, on Saturday evening.

The bodies of the dead Maoists were recovered on Sunday, they claimed.

The seven districts of Bastar zone, in south Chhattisgarh, have strong presence of the left-wing extremists.

In one of the deadliest attacks, Maoists on May 25 last year had ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in Bastar district, killing 27 people including Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma, ex-MLA Uday Mudaliyar.