Ten policemen and a civilian were killed in the blast carried out by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada, officials said on Wednesday. According to the latest reports, Naxalites blew up the mini-goods van in which a team of the state police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) was travelling by using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
The incident took place under Aranpur police station limits when the security personnel were returning after an anti-Naxalite operation.
Reacting to the Maoist attack, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that it is ‘very saddening’ and that the Naxals won’t be ‘spared’.
“It is very saddening. My condolences to the bereaved families. This fight is in its last stage. Naxals won’t be spared,” Bhupesh Baghel told reporters.
Earlier this month, four Naxalites, who were allegedly involved in the killing of a former village head, were arrested in the Dantewada district. They were nabbed by the DRG during an anti-Naxal operation from a weekly fair in Tumrigunda village under the Barsur police station limits on April 4, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Siddharth Tiwari said.
The arrested lower-rung Naxalite cadres were active as the Local Organisation Squad (LOS) and Militia members under the Indravati Area Committee of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), the police officer said.
They were allegedly involved in the killing of a former sarpanch of Himameta village and other violent incidents in the area this year, he added.
Last week, a Maoist was also killed in a gun battle with security personnel in a forest in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. Two Naxals, one of them injured, were also apprehended following the encounter.
The gunfight took place on April 18 near the Kachlawari village under Naimed police station limits, located about 400 km from the state capital Raipur, when a team of the District Reserve Guard was out on a search operation, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Anjneya Varshney said.
Security personnel had launched the patrolling from Reddy camp acting on the inputs of the presence of senior leaders of the Bhairamgarh area committee of Maoists, he said.
“After the exchange of fire stopped, the body of a male Maoist was recovered from the spot. Besides, two Maoists, one of them in injured condition, were rounded up,” the official said.
