On Tuesday, two Communists, carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh each on their heads, were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district.

The gunfight took place at around 6 a.m. in a forest between Tadmetla and Duled villages under Chintagufa police station limits when a joint team of personnel from different security forces was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, a senior police official said.

After the gunfight, the bodies of two Communists, along with a 12-bore double-barrel rifle and a pistol, were recovered from the spot.

The killed Communists were identified as militia cadres Sodhi Deva and Rava Deva, who were active in the Jagargunda area committee of Maoists and carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh each on their heads.

Acting on specific inputs about the presence of 10–12 armed cadres belonging to the Jagargunda area committee of Maoists in the forests of Tadmetla–Duled villages, an operation was launched by the security personnel from the District Reserve Guard and the Central Reserve Police Force’s 223rd battalion, the official said.

A search operation was underway in the area, he added.