Eight District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawans and a driver were killed after Naxals blew up their vehicle using an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district. The blast occurred on the Bedre-Kutru Road in the district.

The security personnel were returning from an operation when the incident happened. The DRG is a unit of the state police.

“The security personnel were returning from a joint operation of Dantewada, Narayanpur, and Bijapur when, at around 2.15 pm on January 6, unidentified Maoists detonated an IED near Ambeli village in the Kutru police station area of Bijapur district,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Bastar said.

“We will soon release a detailed statement on this," the official added.

This is the biggest strike on security personnel by Naxalites in the last two years, an official said.

On April 26, 2023, ten police personnel and a civilian driver were killed after Naxals blew up their vehicle, which was part of a convoy carrying security personnel in neighbouring Dantewada district.

Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker and former Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh reacted to the incident and said, "Whenever big operations are conducted against them, these Naxalites resort to cowardly attacks. I express my condolences to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives in this attack. The significant steps being taken by the Chhattisgarh government and the central government will continue to move forward."

This comes a day after five Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bastar. The gunfight broke out on Saturday evening (January 4) at a forest in south Abujhmaad along the border of Narayanpur and Dantewada districts when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation.

Source: India Today