Dantewada, Jan 6 In a gruesome Maoist attack in the New Year, eight jawans of the District Reserve Guard and a driver were killed on Monday after the rebels blew up their vehicle in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, leaving behind a seven-feet-deep crater on the road.
The vehicle’s mangled remains were strewn across the blast site, with some parts left hanging on trees nearby, said sources.
The nine victims were travelling through Kutra in the Bastar region in an SUV when the attack took place around 2.15 pm on Monday, sources said.
Inspector General of Police, Bastar, Sundarraj Pattilingam said the IED blast targeted the jawans when they were returning to the camp after an operation.
The attack comes within days of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement that the security forces were committed to ending Maoism by March 2026.
The Union Home Minister condemned Monday’s attack. "I am deeply saddened by the news of the loss of DRG soldiers in an IED blast in Bijapur (Chhattisgarh). I express my deepest condolences to the families of the brave soldiers. It is impossible to express this grief in words, but I assure you that the sacrifice of our soldiers will not go in vain. We will end Naxalism from the land of India by March 2026", he said in a post on X.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai also condemned the blast and described it as a "heinous" and "tragic" incident.
“I assure you that the sacrifices of our soldiers will not go in vain. The government is fully committed to eradicating Naxalism (Maoism)," he said while paying tribute to the slain security personnel.
Earlier on Sunday, the security forces attacked Maoists in the Abujhmad region of Chhattisgarh and killed five rebels, including two women.
Automatic weapons such as AK 47 and Self-Loading Rifles have been recovered. It was this operation that the jawans were returning from when the rebels targeted them.
The escalation in violence since Saturday saw a jawan being killed in the Bastar region.
District Reserve Guard Head Constable Sannu Karam, died in the encounter, which broke out on Saturday evening in a forest in south Abujhmad.
The encounter began when a joint team of security personnel was on an anti-Maoist operation, said an official.
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