In a sudden surge in Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh in past one month, the leftist militants on Saturday early hours killed two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and injured four of their colleagues in a prolonged gun-battle in forests of Kanker district under restive Bastar region, police said.
The fierce exchange of gunfire between the para-military troopers BSF and Maoists broke out on Friday night and it ended Saturday wee hours.
The gun-battle began after a special anti-Naxal operation was launched by a joint squad of BSFs 117th and 122nd battalion along with the District Force, from Chhotebethiya camp of BSF, in Pakhanjore region.
Kanker Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jayant Vaishnav said, "when the security forces reached near a river in the dense forest of Becha village, about 150 heavily armed Naxals opened indiscriminate firing on them, leaving six jawans injured."
Constable Rakesh Nehra and Constable Vijay Kumar of 122nd battalion BSF lost their lives in the encounter as they sustained bullet wounds on their head while four of their colleagues- Manoj Kumar, S Thomson, Jagdish K and Bappa D also injured, Vaishnav said, adding that the injured have been airlifted to Raipur for advance medical attention.
Police claimed that several Maoists feared to have have either injured or killed by BSF in retaliatory firing but not a single body of rebels was recovered when the last report came in.
Officials at police headquarters in Raipur say that dozens of extra BSF troopers and local policemen have been dispatched to the encounter site to cordon off the forested area in a bid to track down the insurgents.