Chhattisgarh IED Blast: 5 Cops Killed, 13 Injured As Maoists Target Bus Carrying DRG Personnel

The bus had around 20 security personnel onboard which was passing along the under-construction Barsoor-Palli road surrounded by dense forest of Abhujmad when the Maoists triggered the landmine blast near a culvert.

Image: ANI/Twitter

An explosion by Maoists in Chhattisgarh killed five security personnel and 13 were injured on Tuesday after the bus in which the personnels were travelling was blown up by the outfit in Narayanpur district.

The outfit carried out the landmine explosion between Kanhargaon and Kadenar villages under Dhaudai police station limits, as per news agency PTI. The deceased belonging to the police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) were returning in the bus to Naryanpur town, 300 km away from capital Raipur, after a counter-insurgency operation.

As per the PTI sources, five DRG personnel, including the driver, were killed in the explosion. Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and bodies and injured personnel were evacuated from the forest.

After the incident, the injured personnel were soon airlifted to Raipur in an Indian Air Force chopper for treatment.

The bus had around 20 security personnel onboard at the time of explosion confirmed the state’s Director General of Police D M Awasthi. The bus moved along the under-construction Barsoor-Palli road surrounded by dense forest of Abhujmad when the Maoists triggered the landmine blast near a culvert.

The bus immediately fell off the culvert because of the impact from the explosion. The current attack is the second major Maoist attack on DRG personnel, the frontline anti-Maoist force of the state police in a year.

The DRG personnel are recruited from among local youth and surrendered Maoists in Bastar division. On March 21, 2020, 17 security personnel, including 12 from DRG, were killed in a Maoist ambush in Sukma district of the region.