Dantewada: Security forces have gunned down three naxals in an encounter that took place on Tuesday in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. On March 20, as many as 22 Naxalites were killed during an encounter in the forest area at Bijapur-Dantewada border under Gangaloor police station limits. The Bijapur Police also confirmed the numbers. Earlier on the same day in an IED blast in Malkangiri bordering Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh, two jawans were critical. The STF and DRG jawans were conducting a combing operation in the Abujhamada jungles and two jawans were critically injured as Maoists did an IED blast. In an Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) blast two jawans were critically injured in the Abujhamada jungles. Several others are reportedly injured in the IED blasts today. They have been rushed to the Narayanpur District Headquarters Hospital (DHH). In an exchange of fire in the Bijapur forest, two Maoists were killed and one Jawan was martyred in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh near Malkangiri of Odisha.