Bijapur: Days after the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, which also saw Maoist attack, a Naxalite was killed during an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Sunday, a senior police official said.

The encounter took place near Keshkutul village under the Bhairamgarh police station area at around 5.30 in the morning, when a District Reserve Guard (DRG) team was out in an anti-Naxal operation.

The operation was launched based on information about the presence of a division supply team commander of Maoists, Kawasi Pandaru, and 15-20 other cadres in Keshkutul-Keshmundi forests, located around 400 km from the state capital Raipur, the official added.

After the exchange of fire stopped, the body of a Naxalite, a weapon and explosives were recovered from the spot and a search operation is still underway. Following this, Bijapur SP Jitendra Yadav confirmed the encounter. He said, "The encounter is going on and the detailed information will be given after the soldiers return."

With this incident, 80 Naxalites have been killed so far this year in separate encounters with security forces in the Bastar region, including Bijapur. In the meantime, on April 26, another major encounter took place between security forces and Naxalites in the Chhotabethiya area of Kanker, in which 29 Naxalites were killed.