In Photos: Did a Security Lapse Lead to Deadly Maoist Attack in Dantewada?

Bastar IG said the DRG personnel had gone on an anti-Maoist operation – and were ambushed when they were returning.

Security personnel at the site after at least 10 police personnel and a driver were killed in a blast carried out by Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.

(Photo: Raunak Shivhare)

In one of the deadliest attacks in Chhattisgarh in recent times, at least 10 security personnel and one civilian bus driver were killed on Wednesday, 26 April, in an IED (improvised explosive device) blast planted by Maoists in Dantewada district. Sources told The Quint that it could be a case of a security lapse – and the Maoists might have been tracking the personnel from the moment they left for the operation.

All 10 security personnel belonged to the DRG (District Reserve Guard) force. They were dispatched from the Dantewada district headquarters for an anti-Maoist operation based on intelligence on the presence of Maoists in an area under the Aranpur police station limits. The DRG personnel had started the operation on Tuesday, 25 April, and were returning to base when they were ambushed. 

The deceased have been identified as head constables Joga Sodi, Munna Ram Kadti, and Santosh Tamo, constables Dulgo Mandavi, Lakhmu Markam, Joga Kawasi and Hariram Mandavi, three secret soldiers (gopneeya sainik) Raju Ram Kartam, Jayram Podiyam, Jagdish Kawasi and driver Dhaniram Yadav. The dead bodies have been evacuated and sent for post-mortem, police said on Wednesday, 26 April. 

Bastar Inspector General of Police P Sundarraj told the media that "the DRG personnel had gone on an anti-Maoist operation and were ambushed when they were returning to Dantewada district headquarters". 

Sources told The Quint that the road opening party (ROP), which is involved in sanitising the route before the movement of the troops, wasn't activated. Thus, the Maoists got the opportunity to bomb the convoy, they added. 

Police sources said that Maoists used around 40-50 kgs of explosives to carry out the attack. The blast punched a crate of 15-20-foot-wide in Aranpur-Jagargunda road. Eyewitnesses claimed that the bodies landed at a distance of 150 metres from the site of the blast. 

The DRG jawans, who usually use motorcycles to travel, were returning in four-wheeler vehicles when the blast occurred.  Sources say that DRG personnel had used the same vehicles in the recent past, and that might have "served as an opportunity for the Maoists to identify, track, and ambush them".

One of the striking points of the incident is that the the incident site falls between two security forces camps, barely around 10 km apart, as well as barely 2-3 km from the Aranpur police station limits. 

Sources told The Quint that the attack was a serious security lapse, considering the Maoists were allegedly able to plant an IED between two security establishments.

Talking to the media, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said, "I express my condolences to the families of the jawans who have been martyred. This fight is in its last phase. Maoists will not be spared at any cost – and we will eliminate Maoism in a planned manner."