Two personnel from a specialised unit of the Central Reserve Police Force were on Sunday killed after suspected Maoists carried out an improvised explosive device blast in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, PTI reported.

The blast occurred around 3 pm when the personnel were providing security for a road to be opened from Camp Silger to Camp Tekalgudem in Sukma, ANI reported. The security personnel were travelling in a truck and on several motorcycles.

Suspected Maoists targeted the truck with the improvised explosive device blast, a senior police officer said.

Those who died were identified as Vishnu R from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram and Shailendra from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur. They hailed from the 201 Battalion of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, or CoBRA, a specialised force set up to counter the Maoist insurgency.

A day earlier, security forces in Sukma had recovered a large cache of fake currency notes and equipment that was used to print them. The police alleged that the fake notes and equipment all belonged to Maoists.

The recovery took place on a forested hill near the Korajguda village of Sukma, according to ANI.