Dhanikarka, April 18: Two Naxals were gunned down by District Reserve Guard (DRG) in an encounter in Chhattisgarh on Thursday. The encounter took place forest area of Dhanikarka under Kuakonda police station limits, news agency ANI reported. The deceased Maoists were allegedly involved in the killing of BJP MLA Bhima Mandvi earlier this month.

A team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was carrying out an anti-Naxal operation at a forest in Daulikarka village when they were fired upon by Naxals. When the patrolling team was advancing through Daulikarka, located around 450 km from here, an exchange of fire broke out between the two sides, Deputy Inspector General (anti-Naxal operations) Sundarraj P told PTI.

"After the guns fell silent, bodies of two ultras and a 315 bore gun were recovered from the spot," he said. The killed Naxals, identified as Varghese and Linga, were allegedly involved in the ambush in which Mandavi and his four security personnel were killed on April 9.

Bodies of two Naxals recovered:

Two days before the first phase polling in Chhattisgarh, Maoists targetted a convoy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Dantewada district. BJP's lone legislator from Chhattisgarh's Maoist-affected Bastar region, Mandavi, was killed along with four policemen in the attack. All the killed security personnel were from District Reserve Group.

On April 11, when polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019 was underway, four Naxals were arrested and three firearms seized from them in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. The Naxals, belonging to Maad division of Maoists, were apprehended from Bedre area. Maoists Attack in Gadchiroli: Naxals Trigger IED Blast A Day Before Polling, CRPF Personnel Injured.

Naxals detonated an IED (improvised explosive device) in Narayanpur district on the same day. However, no casualty was reported in the blast. Chhattisgarh witnessed election in one seat in the first phase of voting on April 11. Rest of the 10 seats will go to polls between April 18 and April 23. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 18, 2019 08:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).