Ahead of the second-phase of the Assembly polls, Maoist rebels on Wednesday triggered a blast targeting vehicles of a polling party at Hasand Ghat section, near Shivpur village, in Ramanujganj Assembly constituency. The constituency falls in Sarguja district in north Chhattisgarh. The state Home Minister, Ramvichar Netam, is seeking election from this constituency.

The police said that Sub-Divisional Officer (police) Neeraj Chandrakar and Inspector Manoj Singh sustained minor injuries.

The police also claimed that two Naxals seemed to have been killed in the encounter that followed, but their bodies have not been recovered so far. Additional security forces have reached to carry out combing operations and to flush out the rebels.

Nearly a week ago, security personnel and Naxalites had an encounter on the inter-state border of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in the same region while the rebels were trying to enter the state. Inspector General of Police (Sarguja range) B S Maravi had sustained injuries during the encounter.

Unlike the rebels in southern Bastar region, Maoists in the Sarguja region, bordering Jharkhand, were lying low for the last few years, particularly after the rebels stepped up violence in Bastar, following the launch of anti-Naxal Salwa Judum movement.

Meanwhile, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer Alok Shukla said that adequate security forces have been deployed in all sensitive areas, including in the Naxal-affected regions on the inter-state border with Jharkhand, to ensure smooth conduct of polling on Thursday.