There was, however, no report of any injury sustained by the forces in the gun-battle, a senior police officer said

RAIPUR: Two senior cadres of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) were killed in an exchange of fire at Tongpal in the strife-torn district of Sukma, about 500 km south of Raipur, the police said on Monday.

“On a tip-off about the presence of Maoists in the region close to Tongpal, a joint team of district police, district reserve guards (DRG) and the CRPF left on the search operation. While the security forces reached the forested terrain of Damankota, the rebels opened indiscriminate firing resulting in an encounter. In an exchange of fire two Maoists were killed and their bodies recovered”, a senior police officer said.

The dead Naxals were identified as Mahadev (member of Kanger Valley Area Committee) carrying a cash reward of Rs 3 lakh and Mukesh Markam (Maoist action team commander of Darbha division) on whom the Chhattisgarh government has declared a reward of Rs 8 lakh.

The security forces also recovered one 12-bore gun, detonators, explosives, and other daily use items from the encounter site.

There was, however, no report of any injury sustained by the forces in the gun-battle, the officer stated.

Sukma is among the seven worst Maoist-affected districts in the conflict region of Bastar.