Eight District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawans and one driver lost their lives after their vehicle was blown up by Naxals using an IED in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur on Monday, news agency PTI quoted Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P as saying.
The blast reportedly took place on the Bedre-Kutru Road in Bijapur district.
The jawans of DRG Dantewada, were returning in a Scorpio after a joint operation, the IG said. The joint operation was of Dantewada, Narayanpur and Bijapur, IG Bastar added.
The maoist attack on DRG, a unit of the state police, is the biggest strike on security personnel by Naxalites in the last two years, PTI quoted an official. On April 26, 2023, ten police personnel and a civilian driver were killed after Naxals blew up their vehicle, which was part of a convoy carrying security personnel in neighbouring Dantewada district.
Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister Arun Sao called the attack “cowardly”, saying that the sacrifice of the soldiers won’t go to waste. Our government will fulfil its promise to make Bastar free from Naxalism by March 2026, the deputy CM said.
The incident comes on a day the death toll of Naxals in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region rose to five, with the recovery of one body in the operation that began on Saturday.
The gunfight broke out on Saturday evening at a forest in south Abujhmaad along the border of Narayanpur and Dantewada districts when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, an official said.
Four Naxalites were found dead initially on Sunday, while one more body was recovered later, the official added.
With this, the number of Naxalites killed in the gun battle with the security personnel rose to five, including two women, the official said.
District Reserve Guard (DRG) head constable Sannu Karam was also killed in the gunfight.
Search operation was underway in the area on Monday morning, the official said.
Personnel belonging to the DRG from four districts - Narayanpur, Bastar, Kondagaon and Dantewada - and the Special Task Force (STF) were involved in the operation that was launched on Friday, he said.
On January 3, a Naxalite was killed in an encounter with security forces in Gariaband district which falls in Raipur division.
Last year, 219 Naxalites were gunned down by security forces in separate encounters in the state, according to police.
Source Name : Hindustan Times