A CRPF officer was today killed in an encounter with suspected Naxalites in Gariaband district of Chhattisgarh.

Assistant Commandant S K Das of the force was leading a squad of his men in the forests of Gariaband, 150kms from here, when the patrol encountered an armed Naxal squad at around 3pm.

Das succumbed to bullet injuries which he had received in his abdomen and groin region, sources said.

He was leading a team of CRPF men belonging to the 211 battalion for a special anti-Naxal operation in the area.

The Naxals had carried out a deadly ambush in the Darbha valley area of Bastar in the state on May 25 killing 27 people including state PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel and another prominent party leader Mahendra Karma.