Raipur: In one of the biggest setbacks for security forces in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh,  ultra-left Maoist rebels killed 17 troopers in Sukma, police said Sunday.

Police have found the bodies of the 17 personneol of state police in Minpa jungles of Sukma where a fierce shootout took place on Saturday.

“Seventeen bodies of jawans of state police has been recovered by the rescue teams sent in the jungle till now,” said Chhattisgarh’s Director General of Police (DGP) D M Awasthi

Awasthi said the encounter began at around 1 pm on Saturday near Korajguda hills in Chintagufa area when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-Maoists operation.

A large reinforcement was sent to encounter spot on Sunday morning, the DGP said.

Saturday’s loss was the biggest for security forces since April 24, 2017 when Maoists killed 25 CRPF personnel in an ambush near Burkapal in Sukma.