Two Maoists, policeman killed in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Dec 29 (IANS) Two Maoist insurgents were shot dead in a gun battle with police while one policeman was killed in a separate gun fight in Chhattisgarh Monday, an official said.

Both incidents were reported from Bijapur district of the state's southern mineral-rich forested Bastar region where insurgents had killed three people and injured five in an attack late Sunday.

Two rebels were killed after a combing team of the district police force and special police officers (SPOs) challenged armed insurgents in the early hours of Monday in a thickly forested area of Santoshpur, some 450 km south of here.

'The rebels were killed in a heavy gun battle. Police recovered a hand grenade and two tiffin bombs of the insurgents from the encounter site,' Bijapur district police chief Ankit Garg told IANS.

He added that a head constable of the district force was killed when rebels attacked a police team in Gangloor area.

Chhattisgarh is one of the worst Maoist violence-hit states and police say more than 1,100 people have been killed in this state in Maoist-related violence since 2004.