The attacks occurred in one of the most remote Naxal-hit areas where the communication network is dismally poor.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (anti-Naxalite operations) Pawan Deo said the Maoists had gunned down two security personnel near the Madanwada camp of the Chhattisgarh Special Armed Force (SAF) early in the morning.

On learning about the incident, IPS officer Choubey rushed to the spot with some security forces, which included the CRPF, Chhattisgarh Special Armed Forces and the district police force. About 200 Maoist cadres were reportedly waiting to ambush them. Choubey and 23 others were killed on the spot as the rebels triggered a powerful landmine blast and followed it up with indiscriminate firing.

Four more personnel died as the rebels ambushed another team of securitymen heading to Madanwada by a different route.

Inspector General of Police (Durg range) Mukesh Gupta said the security forces were outnumbered. He said preliminary inspection indicated that the Maoists had executed the attack with meticulous planning.

Meanwhile, local reports said the toll could be higher, but there was no official confirmation. About 13 security personnel, who left Avadhi police station to patrol the area after news of the attack, have reportedly not returned. But police officials said they could only confirm the report after relief and rescue operations get over.

At least a dozen personnel are reported to have sustained serious injuries. They have been admitted to hospitals in Manpur and Rajnandgaon. A helicopter has been sent to airlift the bodies from Manpur hospital to the Rajnandgaon district headquarters, which is about 70 kilometres away from the attack site.

In April this year, the Maoists had triggered a landmine blast in the same area, killing five polling personnel during the Lok Sabha elections.

While the Naxalites have been lying low in Bastar, there were intelligence inputs in the last couple of weeks about movement of cadres in Manpur-Mohalla in Rajnandgaon which borders Maharashtra, at some places bordering Kanker and Dhamtari districts, and in the diamond belt area of Gariaband forests in Raipur district.

Meanwhile, the Congress was quick to blame the BJP government in general and the police in particular, saying that the entire machinery has become ineffective in dealing with the problem of Naxalism. “Why don’t the police learn a lesson from West Bengal, where the security forces liberated Lalgarh from the Maoists by working in coordination with the paramilitary forces,” said state PCC chief Dhanendra Sahu.