Extremists of the Communist Party of India-Maoist shot dead two local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh late Thursday night.

Armed Naxals dragged out Ramchandra Sinha, spokesman of BJP's Dongergarh unit, from his residence in Charbhata village at around 2300 hours, and shot him dead, Zilla Panchayat President Bharat Verma told UNI over telephone.

Another local BJP leader, Babla, was gunned down by Naxals at Sendri village, about 12 km from Dongergaon, Thursday night.

Police have reached both villages and are investigating.

The two killings have come three days after a local Congress leader, Ishaq Memon, was shot dead by ultras at Churia village.

The Maoists had also triggered a landmine blast recently in Rajnandgaon district, killing two policemen and injuring 10 other security personnel.

Thursday night's attacks took place in the villages falling under Dongergaon Assembly constituency represented by Chief Minister Raman Singh.

The CPI-Maoist cadres have their presence in about 10 out of the 16 districts in the state and are active in tribal areas of Bastar in the south and Sarguja region in the north, bordering Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand respectively.

Since the last six months, the rebels have stepped up violence in the tribal Bastar region where the locals, supported by the ruling BJP and opposition Congress, are participating in 'Salwa Judum', a movement against Naxal attacks to motivate the tribals to disassociate themselves from the Maoists.