Bijapur/Dantewada:

Two Maoists were killed in clashes with security personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district and two soldiers were injured in an improvised explosive device blast in neighboring Sukma district, a police officer said on Saturday.

Superintendent of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P told news agency PTI that the shootout took place around 8.30 am on Saturday in a forest under Gangaloor police station area when a team of personnel from different security forces were conducting anti-Naxal operations. .

He said the operation was conducted at the triple junction of Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma districts, which is considered a Maoist bastion.

Personnel belonging to the state’s District Reserve Guards (DRG) and ‘Bastar Warriors’, Central Reserve Police Force and its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Force for Resolute Action) and Special Task Forces (STF) from three districts participated in the event The project was launched on Friday evening, he said.

He said the Naxalites opened fire as security forces cordoned off a forest near Pidiya village, more than 450 kilometers from the capital Raipur, triggering a gun battle between the two sides.

“After the gunfire subsided, the bodies of two Naxalites and weapons were found at the spot,” the official said.

The two Maoists are yet to be identified, the Inspector General said, adding that search operations in the area were still ongoing.

IG Sundarraj said that in the same operation on Friday night, two Bastar Warrior soldiers were injured when a Maoist-planted pressure improvised explosive device (IED) exploded along the Dantewada-Sukma border.

He said the explosion took place in a forest near Dudittunal village under the jurisdiction of Jagargonda police station in Sukma district when the forest along the inter-district border was being cordoned off.

The injured soldiers were identified as Vikas Kumar Karma and Rakesh Kumar Markam, both Bastar fighters – Dantewada Police officer of Bastar Fighters-Dantewada).

The two were admitted to a local hospital and then airlifted to Raipur for further treatment, he said. He added that the injured soldier was said to be out of danger.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)