One Maoist killed; BSF jawan martyred

Maoist incidents have increased just before the polling for first phase of assembly elections. A BSF personnel was martyred when Naxals detonated an IED, while a Maoist was gunned down in an encounter with police in separate incidents in Chhattisgarh on Sunday, a day ahead of the first phase of Assembly polls in the state.

Inspector General of Police (Raipur range) Dipanshu Kabra has said that a team of the Border Security Force (BSF) was out on an area domination operation in view of the polls on Monday when Naxals blew up the improvised explosive device (IED) in a forest in Kanker district, around 200 km from the state capital Raipur. Reinforcement was rushed to the spot.

A search operation was still underway in the region. This is the fourth IED blast triggered by Maoists in Chhattisgarh in the last 15 days.