In a meticulously planned attack, Maoist insurgents blew up a truck carrying over 40 security personnel in Chhattisgarh's violence-hit Bastar region late Saturday evening, killing 12 troopers. Seven rebels were also killed by security forces.

The blast occurred in a thickly forested stretch of Tongapal area in Dantewada district, some 500 km south of here, when a search squad of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and District Force (DF) was on its way back to the base camp.