Naxals killed a contractor early today and set on fire four machines engaged in road construction work in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, a senior police official said.

The incident took place between Tumnar and Koitpal villages, where the road construction work was going on under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana, Deputy Inspector General of Police (south Bastar range) Sundarraj P told PTI.

A group of armed Naxals stormed the construction site, located around 7 km from Bijapur town and about 450 km from the state capital, and threatened the labourers to stop the work, he said.

The ultras then set ablaze four machines and after that abducted the road construction contractor Vishal Kumar (36) and took him along with them to a forest nearby, the DIG said.

"Later, Kumar's body, with his head smashed with an axe, was found near the construction site," he said.

He was a native of Kurud in the state's Dhamtari district, he said.

Soon after getting information about the Naxal attack, security forces were rushed to the spot and the contractor's body was brought to Bijapur for post-mortem, he said.

A search operation has been launched to trace the ultras, he said.

On March 14, Naxals had burnt seven vehicles and machines engaged in road construction between Bijapur and Gangaloor in the district.

A day before that, nine personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed in an IED blast, when Maoists blew up their mine-protected vehicle (MPV) in Sukma district.

On February 18, the rebels had set afire to several vehicles involved in road construction work between Bhejji and Elarmadgu in Sukma district and killed an employee of the construction contractor.

Naxals have frequently tried to disrupt road construction works in the Bastar division, which consists of seven districts, by launching attacks on security forces and damaging the roads, and vehicles and machines used in the work, a senior police official had earlier said.

The ultras felt that the developmental works in the region and construction of roads would uproot them from the area, he had said.