Some Maoists are also suspected to have been killed during the encounter, which is still underway

The encounter broke out in Tarrem area when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-Naxal operation.

As many as five security personnel were killed and at least 12 others injured in an exchange of fire with Naxals at a forest in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday.

Some Maoists are also suspected to have been killed during the encounter, which is still underway, the police have said.

According to Director General of Police DM Awasthi, the encounter broke out in Tarrem area when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-Naxal operation, news agency PTI reported. Personnel belonging to the CRPF’s elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) were involved in the operation.

Two Mi-17 helicopters and nine ambulances have been rushed to the spot for evacuation.

The latest incident comes nearly two weeks after five personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) were killed and several injured in an IED blast — the first major Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh this year — in Narayanpur.

Senior officials said the security personnel were travelling as part of an anti-Naxal operation in the dense Abujhmad forests. The blast occurred at around 4.15 pm, on the Kanhargaon-Kadenar road on March 23.