Four civilians and one Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawan was killed while several others were injured on Thursday, 8 November, after a civilian bus used by the troops deployed for election duty in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada suffered an IED blast, allegedly triggered by Maoists.
CISF Head Constable Dinankar Mukhopadhyay was killed and Constable Pathare Suresh and Constable P Satish Kumar sustained injuries in the attack, reported ANI.
The troops were reportedly returning back to their camp after buying vegetables when the attack occurred. The injured CISF personnel have been shifted to a nearby hospital.
D Ravi Shankar, State Intelligence Bureau (SP), said that the civilian bus was hired for the CISF to conduct election duties.
“The bus was targeted by an IED blast in which the bus driver, conductor and helper (civilians) and one CISF jawan were killed,” he said.
On being asked if the attack was a result of intelligence failure, Shankar said that the facts of the attack would only become clear after an investigation.
“This is an isolated incident and was a pushback to the cleansing operations being carried out in the area against the Naxals,” he added.
This is the second attack by the Naxals in the poll-bound state in recent days.
Abhishek Pallava, Dantewada Superintendent of Police said the security forces have launched a combing operation in the area to track the ultras.
Pallava also said that there was no attack carried out on the family of late Congress leader Mahendra Karma in Dantewada. He said, “Exchange of fire took place only between Naxals & security personnel in Kuakonda. Karma's team were campaigning 2-3 km away from spot. As they heard gunshots, they rushed to safety.”
Inspector General, Bastar, V Sinha assured that the upcoming polls will be held peacefully. He told ANI, "Morale of the forces will not be affected due to such attacks. The upcoming assembly elections will be conducted peacefully."
Visuals from Chhattisgarh, where three civilians and 1 CISF personnel died in an IED blast.
(Photo: The Quint)
On 30 October, two policemen and a cameraperson of Doordarshan were killed and two others were injured after around 100 naxals attacked a security patrol party in poll-bound Chhattisgarh.
The attack comes a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to address a poll rally in Dantewada’s Jagdalpur. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s was also scheduled to address a campaign rally in the state on Friday.
On Wednesday, 7 November, the Election Commission asked the neighbouring state Odisha to close its borders with poll-bound Chhattisgarh. The state's Chief Electoral Officer Surendra Kumar said the Odisha government has been told to "seal its border with Chhattisgarh in order to ensure free and fair elections in the state", as reported by PTI.
Assembly elections will be held in Chhattisgarh in two phases, on 12 and 20 November. The results will be announced on 11 December.
As per PTI, naxals have asked voters to boycott the upcoming state Assembly polls, being held over two phases on November 12 and November 20.
(This is a developing story and will be updated with more details.)
(With inputs from ANI.)
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