Raipur, Aug 1 (IANS) A fierce gunbattle raged in a dense jungle in Chhattisgarh’s restive Bastar region Monday morning as armed Maoist guerrillas and security personnel exchanged fire, police said.

The gunbattle began around 9.30 a.m. at Kesamundi forest in Bijapur district, about 450 km from here, when Maoists fired at a joint combing team of the District Force (DF), Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) and the Special Task Force (STF), a senior official at the police headquarters here told IANS.

The official added: ‘Our soldiers have strongly retaliated.’

There were no immediate details about casualties.