Heavily armed Maoists killed a central para-military trooper of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Chhattisgarh on Friday in a prolonged gunfight, police said.
The gunfight, which began in the early hours on Friday in a forested area of Rajnandgaon district in the western part of the state, ended in the afternoon with the killing of one ITBP soldier, Bhoop Singh, who hails from Rajasthan.
"The deceased jawan belonged to 36th battalion of the ITBP who fought bravely with the armed rebels in a jungle stretch," B L Meena, district superintendent of police in Rajnandgaon, told IANS.
The gunfight began when the ITBP contingent was on a search patrol along with a few personnel of the state police force. The battle site is located about 160 km from state capital Raipur.