Raipur, July 12 (IANS):  In one of their deadliest attacks since the government named CPI-Maoist as a terror outfit last month, Leftwing ultras killed at least 23 policemen in an ambush in a forested stretch of Chhattisgarh Sunday.

"A contingent of the District Force (DF) and Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) drove into a booby trap laid by Maoists in a thickly forested area in Rajnandgaon district, in which 23 jawans were killed," Girdhari Nayak, additional director general of police, told IANS.

Rajnandgaon District Superintendent of Police Binod Kumar Choubey was among the injured. While the officials refused to comment on his condition, a top official on condition of anonymity said he was killed and a formal confirmation was awaited.

This would be the first time in an over three-decade-old Maoist militancy in Chhattisgarh that an official of the superintendent of police rank was killed by the radical Leftists.

The attack took place in the Manpur belt, some 200 km from here, in the district bordering Maharashtra.

Insurgents had killed two DF personnel in a separate incident in the same area this morning.

All top officials, including Chhattisgarh police chief Vishwaranjan, rushed to the site of the attack. The strike has shaken up the police force in the state which has been battling Maoist insurgency since the 1980s.

Chief Minister Raman Singh cancelled his trip to Nagpur scheduled for Sunday afternoon and asked the home department to send choppers to rescue the injured policemen.