Maoists strike again in Chhattisgarh, trooper killed

A trooper was killed when armed Maoists launched a brazen attack on a BSF camp in Chhattisgarh's restive Bastar region -- the second terror strike on security personnel within two days.

The audacious attack in Kanker district took place barely two days after seven policemen of the Special Task Force were shot dead by Maoists in Sukma district.

Officials at police headquarters here said on Monday that a few insurgents tried to sneak into a Border Security Force (BSF) camp at Chhotebetiya forests in Kanker district's Pakhanjoor area in the early hours of Monday.

"The alert BSF jawans opened fire on rebels when they tried to storm the camp," R.K. Vij, state's head of anti-Naxal operations, told IANS. He added that trooper R.P. Solanki was killed on the spot.

Vij said a rebel was also found killed at the attack site and three IEDs of 20 kg each were recovered during the combing operation near the camp.

Security has been stepped up at police and para-military camps across the insurgency-hit Bastar where rebels hold sway in interior areas since late 1980s.

On Saturday, seven policemen of the Special Task Force (STF) were gunned down and 12 injured in Sukma district as Maoists orchestrated a bloodbath after a prolonged period of peace in the state.

The attack took place in a forested patch of the district where the STF personnel were on a search drive. Over 100 heavily armed insurgents encircled them from all directions in a difficult forested terrain and sprayed them with bullets.