At least three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and several injured on Saturday in the third Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh in two days, the police said.
The attack site at Bhejji, about 500 km from Raipur, is in Dantewada district, director general of police (DGP) Vishwa Ranjan told IANS. A chopper has been sent from Dantewada town to the attack site to airlift injured CRPF men. Maoists attacked the CRPF men when they were inspecting a jungle site for a base camp at Bhejji for a possible relocation as the Supreme Court has ordered security personnel to vacate school buildings, the police said.
The casualty figures may rise, said Ranjan who is already in Bastar region after a deadly attack on the police force on Thursday midnight. Maoists had carried out double attacks in the Bastar region June 9. Five policemen were gunned down in Narayanpur district June 9 morning.
They struck again, killing 10 policemen around midnight in Dantewada district. Maoist attacks in Chhattisgarh have surged in the past weeks as rebels killed nine policemen in an ambush May 23 on the Chhattisgarh-Orissa border along Raipur district.