Bhubaneswar, May 3: The Maoists have gone into the retaliatory mode since the killing of a woman cadre by the security forces in Malkangiri last week signalling the end of their truce with the Orissa government.

On Monday evening, they launched their first attack on the security forces in the last two months, gunning down an India Reserve Battalion (IRB) jawan and seriously wounding a police constable in the forests of Kandhamal district. The slain jawan has been identified as R.B.H. Thakuri.

Kandhamal superintendent of police Praveen Kumar said some other policemen had sustained minor injuries in the attack. Senior police officials, including ADG (operations) Sanjeev Marik, rushed to the district in the wake of the incident.

According to sources, the attack took place when a joint combing party of India Reserve Battatlion, a special anti-Maoist force raised by the government, and the Special Operations Group (SOG) unit of the police had entered the Kalingbadi forest in the Daringbadi police station area. The Maoists, who were camping in the forest, started firing on the combing party taking it completely by surprise.

While two tiffin bombs were recovered from the encounter spot, police have detained 18 persons on suspicion of having links with the Maoists following intense combing of the area. Sources said that tribal-dominated Kandhamal district had seen stepped up activity by the Maoists during the last two years. In fact, the government blamed the Maoists for the killing of Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmananand Saraswati, which had sparked off the communal riots in 2008.

The Maoists appear to have gone on the offensive since the Malkangiri incident, which was seen as a gross violation of the 14-point agreement their interlocutors had reached with the state government in February. Since the agreement barred the government from taking any coercive action against the rebels till the latter indulged in violence, the killing of the woman cadre was described as a breach of trust by the Maoist leaders.

The Maoists struck immediately by killing a contractor in Bandhugaon area of district on April 30 throwing an open challenge to the security forces. The man, Ganesh Khosla, was believed to be a police informer and had also been campaigning against the Maoist-backed Chasi Muliya Adivasi Sangh.