The IED was planted in a hilly area in Bacheli, about 40km from Nilawaya, where a Doordarshan cameraman was gu... Read More

RAIPUR: Maoists blew up a bus carrying CISF personnel on poll duty in Dantewada on Thursday, killing four civilians and a CISF jawan and injuring two. This is the third attack in less than two weeks in the run-up to Chhattisgarh assembly elections . The attack came just a day before PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Jagdalpur, the divisional headquarters of Bastar, to address an election meeting.

The IED was planted in a hilly area in Bacheli, about 40km from Nilawaya where a Doordarshan cameraman and three policemen were gunned down on October 30. The CISF men were returning to their camp from a local market in Bacheli and were in a private bus allotted for election duty in the mining area of National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) in Dantewada.

Dantewada SP Abhishek Pallava said the blast was so powerful that it lifted the bus in the air. There were just seven people, including three CISF jawans, in the bus. Those killed were identified as CISF head constable T Mukhopadhyay and the driver and his support staff Ramesh Pathak, Roshan Sahu, Sushil Banjare and Johem. The two injured jawans are out of danger, sources said.

Bastar and Rajnandgaon go to polls in the first phase on November 12. All Maoist affected constituencies are under heavy security cover as the rebels have called to boycott polls. This was the third major attack in Bastar in the run-up to the polls.



In Video: Chhattisgarh: 1 jawan, 3 civilians killed in Naxal attack in Dantewada