The tiger census in the Sunabeda wildlife sanctuary in Nuapada district of western Odisha has been affected, with foresters claiming that Maoists stole a couple of cameras installed in the forest to detect the movement of the big cats and the enumerators being afraid of entering the "rebel-hit area" in the sanctuary close to Chhattisgarh.

Two SOG (special operation group) jawans were injured on Sunday in an IED (improvised explosive device) blast while a combing operation by the security forces was underway in the dense forest of Kandhamal district.

Principal chief conservator of forest Susanta Kumar Nanda told The Telegraph: “The Maoists are active in the area. Their movement has affected the ongoing tiger census.”

On being asked whether the cameras were missing, Nanda said: “The district officials must have information in this regard.”

Divisional forest officer (DFO) Sunabeda Dushasan Budek told The Telegraph: “The tiger census is going on across the state including Sunabeda. We have fitted 16 cameras and out of these, two are missing. We suspect that the Maoists have taken them.”

Budek added that nearly 30 staff and a number of special squads had been engaged in the tiger census process. "However, Maoists have been active in the area for quite some time. Our officials are not going to the area in the sanctuary, which is close to Chhattisgarh and has seen police encounters with the rebels earlier.”

The dense forests have for years offered easy sanctuary to the rebels.

However, the government has been trying hard to flush them out of the area. The state government recently decided to deploy drones for night operations against Maoists.

On Sunday, as a part of its anti-Maoist operations when a special operation group of Odisha police was carrying on combing operations in the dense forest under Tumudibandha police station, two jawans were critically injured in an IED explosion.

Kandhamal superintendent of police (SP) Suvendu Kumar Patra told reporters: “The explosion occurred around 10am while a combing operation was going on. There was also an exchange of fire between the security forces and the jawans. The two jawans who suffered splinter injuries have been admitted to hospitals. Operations have been intensified to flush out the Maoists.”