Around 100 armed Maoists attacked a security forces patrol, killing nine Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, including an officer, and injuring eight troopers in Chhattisgarh's restive Bastar region on Friday. Three ultras also were killed in the retaliatory fire.

The police said the Maoists, armed with AK-47s, ambushed a joint CRPF and District Forces patrol in a forested village in Dantewada district's Chintagufa area, about 445 km south of capital Raipur.