Raipur: Naxals disguised as cricketers ambushed the search party of security personnel at Parakal village in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district on Monday killing two cops and wounding six others, police said.

“When the joint search party comprising BSF and district force personnel re-ached the village, they found some youths playing cricket in an open ground. A burst of firing suddenly came from the direction of the field, leaving the security forces completely baffled,” inspector-general of police (intelligence) Dipansu Karba said on Tuesday, adding that the injured jawans were admitted to a hospital on Tuesday.

Police sources, however, said it was yet to be established whether the Naxals, disguised as cricketers, had ambushed the jawans or the ultras had mingled with the cricketers to open fire on the search party.

Around a dozen motorcycle-borne security personnel had launched a search operation following a tip-off on the presence of Maoists in the area.

Police suspected that the informer, who had apparently provided the tip-off, might be a Maoist mole.

“The rebels might have tricked the security forces to lure them to the encounter site through their mole, who had acted as a police spy. They seemed to have set up the well-planned ambush,” police sources said.