Midnapore, May 26: Suspected Maoists gunned down an Eastern Frontier Rifles jawan and injured two other security personnel in Jhargram town this evening.

EFR jawan Gurucharan Basumatari and an assistant sub-inspector of the Jhargram police station, Chinmoy Maity, were hit in the shoulder and neck.

The attackers took away the jawans’ rifles and the police officer’s revolver before fleeing.

The ambush took place around 8.30pm, on the edge of Jhargram forest, about 170km from Calcutta, when the trio were on a routine patrol at the Paper Mill More.

A police vehicle had dropped the three there minutes before the attack. Jawan Diltosh Kharka, 41, was killed on the spot.

“The injured are in Jhargram Subdivisional Hospital but they have been referred to Calcutta as their injuries are serious,” a police officer said.

The suspected Maoists fled towards Jharkhand on three motorcycles that they had parked a few metres away from the the crime scene.

This was the first Maoist strike in a town in West Midnapore.

On April 30, Maoists had shot dead two police constables at the State Bank of India branch at Doijuri village, 8km from Jhargram town.