Raipur : Two CRPF troopers were killed after Maoist guerrillas blew up their vehicle in Chhattisgarh Tuesday, police said. The IED blast occurred near Basaguda in Bijapur district, around 520 km from here.

The attack comes a day after the Maoist guerrillas blew up an anti-landmine vehicle in the Bastar region, killing a CRPF trooper and injuring five others. "The Maoists ambushed the vehicle in the early hours of Tuesday on the Basaguda-Sarkeguda road killing the driver and the other occupant, both members of the CRPF s CoBRA battalion," said Inspector General of Police, Bastar, T.J. Langkumer.

Bijapur Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal said the vehicle was moving towards Sarkeguda from Basaguda around 6.30 a.m. The ill-fated van had travelled hardly three km from Basaguda when it was hit by the blast.

The vehicle was carrying food for the Central Reserve Police Force troopers in the area when the IED blast occurred, said Ram Niwas, CRPF additional director-general, Naxal operations.

On June 29, the security forces had killed 19 villagers, suspected to be Maoist guerrillas, in Bijapur s Sarkeguda village.