Two police personnel and a Doordarshan (DD) News cameraman were killed in a Naxal ambush in poll-bound Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Tuesday, police said.
Two policemen were also injured in the incident, which took place in Nilawaya village under the Aranpur police station.
"Those killed were identified as Sub Inspector Rudra Pratap, Assistant Constable Mangalu and DD News cameraman Achyutanand Sahu from Delhi," Deputy Inspector General (anti-Naxal operations) Sundarraj P told PTI.
Reinforcements were rushed to the spot, he said.
The DD team, which was in the area to cover the run-up to the elections next month, was moving in vehicles.
Two other DD News staffers, including a journalist from Delhi, are reported to be safe.
A security squad from CRPF's 111 battalion has been rushed to the spot, a senior official added.
This is suspected to be a Naxal ambush for security forces. Maoists fired multiple rounds while attacking the vehicle-mounted team, the official said.
Further details are awaited, Sundarraj said.
Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases on November 12 and 20.
#DDNews had deputed team to cover #Chhattisgarhpolls, comprising of Camera person-Achyuta Nanda Sahu, Dheeraj Kumar and MM Sharma. In a #Naxal attack #AchyutaNandaSahu was martyred. The entire #DDNnews Family salutes his service and stands by his family in this hour of grief pic.twitter.com/xIh74b055g
— Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) October 30, 2018
On Sunday, four CRPF personnel were killed in an attack carried out by Maoists, using improvised explosive devices, in the state's Bijapur district.
Today our patrolling party was ambushed by Naxals in Aranpur. Two of our personnel were martyred, and a DD cameraman was also injured and later succumbed. Two more personnel injured: DIG P Sundarraj #Chhattisgarh pic.twitter.com/ZgZMF6xdRJ
— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2018
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