At least four civilians and one Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel were killed after Naxals triggered a blast in a bus near Bacheli in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Thursday, confirmed district Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek Pallav.
"In the blast, we lost our Head Constable D Mukhopadhyay. Constables Satish Pathare and Vishal Suresh, who were injured in the blast, are admitted in a hospital for treatment. As per report they were not carrying any weapon when the blast hit the bus. As per reports, it was an IED (Improvise Explosive Blast)," DG CISF Rajesh Ranjan told ANI.
The attack comes just days ahead of the first phase of voting for the state assembly elections, scheduled for November 12, in which 18 constituencies, mainly in the Naxal-affected areas, will go to polls.
Just eight days ago, two Chhattisgarh police personnel and a Doordarshan cameraman were killed in a Naxal attack in Aranpur village of Dantewada district.
Dantewada Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek Pallav questioned why Naxals looted Sahu's camera if they did not intend to target media. The cop also detailed how gravely Sahu was injured.
He was unable to hold back his tears while speaking to a media person after Maoist ambush that killed two policemen and a Doordarshan cameraperson near Nilawaya under Aranpur police station limits in Chhattisgarh.
The Maoists ambushed a squad of local police which was carrying out patrolling on motor cycles from Sameli camp towards Nilawaya. A three-member team of Doordarshan was travelling for election-related news coverage at the same time and was caught in the cross-fire.
Earlier last month, four CRPF personnel were killed in an attack carried out by Maoists, using improvised explosive devices, in the state's Bijapur district.
Chhattisgarh will go to the polls in two phases, first on November 12 and second November 20. The results will be announced on December 11.
The first phase of polls covering 18 constituencies of eight Maoist-affected districts Bastar, Kanker Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon will be held on November 12.
The remaining 72 constituencies will witness polling on November 20. The counting of votes will take place on December 11.
(With inputs from ANI)
