A group of Naxalites detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) on Monday, targeting a vehicle carrying police personnel in Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh. The blast occurred on Bedre-Kutru Road while the vehicle, carrying around 20 soldiers, was returning from an anti-Naxal operation conducted the previous day. Nine people have been killed so far, including eight soldiers and the driver.
Chhattisgarh Deputy CM Arun Sao had condemned the attack strongly and assured that the sacrifices of the fallen security personnel would not go unaccounted for. “Whenever big operations are carried out against Naxalites, they do such cowardly acts… Chhattisgarh government will further intensify the steps it is taking against Naxalism. The government is not going to be afraid or bow down, strict action will continue against them,” said Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker Raman Singh.
Background on Recent Anti-Naxal Operations
Five Naxalites were killed in a shootout with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region on Saturday. The incident occurred in the South Abujhmaad forests near the Narayanpur-Dantewada border during an anti-Naxalite operation. Four bodies of Naxalites were reportedly found initially and another later. Dantewada DRG Head Constable Sannu Karam lost his life during the operation as well.
In an earlier incident on Friday, three Naxalites were gunned down in an encounter at Kandeshar village, Gariaband district. The weapons were also seized from the site of the encounter. The operations had been carried out by STF and DRG teams of different districts in Chhattisgarh: Narayanpur, Dantewada, Jagdalpur, and Kondagaon.
