Bhubaneswar: Security forces in Odisha's Malkangiri-Koraput belt have been put on alert following the killing of seven Maoists in Dantewada district of neighbouring Chhattisgarh on Thursday.

"Our forces are on alert and combing operations will continue," said Koraput superintendent of police Kanwar Vishal Singh. His Malkangiri counterpart, Jagmohan Meena, could not be reached for comment but sources said the district's border with Chhattisgarh was likely to be sealed to ward off the possibility of infiltration by Maoists from the other side.

"In wake of the Dantewada encounter, the police in Chhattisgarh are likely to step up their operation against the rebels who then may try to cross over to our side. We have to take steps to thwart that possibility," said a senior police officer.

Given the geographical proximity of Malkangiri and Koraput to Chhattisgarh, the situation in these two districts had also been discussed at the June 8 meeting of senior police officers of seven eastern states affected by Left-wing extremism. Following the meeting, Odisha director general of police R.P. Sharma had underscored the need for inter-state cooperation in tackling the Maoist threat and cited Malkangiri's cut-off area, so called because of its inaccessible terrain, as a fit case for carrying out joint operations.

In June, the rebels, who are active in Malkangiri, had shot at and wounded a 45-year-old tribal man at Silkota village in Podia police limits, suspecting him to be a police informer. An armed group of rebels had barged into the house of Mangudu Wanjam and dragged him out at gunpoint. They took him to the nearby forest and shot him. Local residents later spotted him and shifted him to hospital.

Sources said ensuring the safety of informers had become a challenge for security forces in the Malkangiri-Koraput belt.