Two Border Security Force (BSF) troopers were killed in an IED blast triggered by Maoists in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh on Monday when they were patrolling the area on a motorcycle, police said.

The incident took place at around 5 pm in the forest of Tadbauli village under Chhotebethiya police station limits when a team of the BSF's 121 battalion was out on an area domination operation on motorcycles, according to Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) (Anti-Naxal Operation) Sundarraj P .

When the team was passing through a dirt track near Tadbauli, about 7 kms from the BSF's Marbeda camp, the motorcycle was blown away in the blast carried out by the Naxals using an IED hidden underground, he said.

The jawans were seriously injured and died while being taken out of the forest, the DIG added.

They were identified as Santosh Laxman and Vijay Nand Nayak, both natives of Karnataka, he said.

Soon after getting information about the blast, reinforcement was rushed to spot, the DIG said.

A search operation has been launched to trace the Naxals involved in the attack, Sundarraj added.

2 BSF cops martyred in IED blast