Raipur, Feb 25 (PTI) Security forces busted seven hideouts of Naxals and recovered a huge cache of explosives during a three-day operation along the Chhattisgarh- Maharashtra border, police said on Thursday.

A District Reserve Guard jawan was killed and another suffered injuries in separate encounters with ultras during the operation, said a senior official.

"We had inputs about the presence of senior cadres of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of Maoists in the forest on the tri-junction of Narayanpur and Kanker districts of Chhattisgarh and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra," Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P told PTI.

Security forces launched `Operation Sangam' on Tuesday and separate teams from Narayanpur and Kanker were dispatched to the location, around 300 km from Chhattisgarh capital Raipur, he said.

Over 700 personnel of the state police's District Reserve Guard, Special Task Force, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Border Security Force (BSF) were involved in the operation, he said.

The security forces raided the area, considered as Maoists' stronghold, for the first time since 2012-13, he claimed.

During the operation, multiple encounters took place between security forces and ultras in the hilly forests of Baramtola, Kudulpad, Kummachalmeta, Tekemetta and Kukur villages and seven Maoist hideouts were busted, he said.

A DRG jawan was killed during an encounter near Kukur village on Wednesday while another DRG personnel sustained bullet injuries in a face-off near Tekmetta on Thursday, the IG said.

"Ground inputs suggest that security forces have inflicted serious damage on the naxal formations of North Bastar and Maad divisions of DKSZC camping in the area," Sundarraj said.

A huge cache of arrow-bombs, tiffin bombs, pipe bombs, Maoist uniforms, banners, posters, documents and materials of daily use were recovered from the hideouts, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)