Ten personnel of the District Reserve Guards (DRG) of the Chhattisgarh Police killed in a Maoist ambush in Dantewada on Wednesday, were reportedly involved in an encounter with the ultras, too, sources said.
They had gone on an anti-naxal campaign on the tip-off of presence of a Maoist commander carrying Rs 7 lakh reward, sources added. The DRG team had gone out for the campaign on Tuesday night and was returning to district headquarters in the morning when the blast was triggered.
The Maoists reportedly used a powerful 50-kg improvised explosive device to target the vehicle carrying the jawans. The vehicle, a mini goods van, was private and rented and did not have any ballistic safety guards, sources said. The IED blast ripped off the vehicle and threw it far off. The civilian driver of he vehicle has also lost his lives in the attack.
Visuals of a massive crater, about five-feet deep, in the middle of the road, ripped-off vehicle pieces lying at a distance and damaged/uprooted trees came out from the spot on Aranpur-Sameli road under Aranpur police station area in Dantewada, about 450 kms from state capital Raipur.
Also, the arms of the slain personnel were recovered from the spot, indicating that the Maoists involved had immediately left the area after triggering the blast, without stopping to take away the arms, as they do in many cases.
Earlier there were reports that the team was out to rescue some security personnel trapped due to heavy rainfall that hit Dantewada on Tuesday night.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Bastar, Sundarraj P. released a statement saying that the attack on the vehicle of the DRG personnel occurred while they were returning from an anti-Maoist campaign. The IG said that there were inputs of presence of Maoists belonging to the Darbha divisional committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Dantewada initiated the campaign; the vehicle carrying DRG personnel was attacked by Maoists with IED between Aranpur and Sameli while returning from the campaign. He added that additional forces and rescue teams reached the spot as did senior officials and a search was on. The bodies of the martyred soldiers were being evacuated, he said.
According to an officially released list, the deceased DRG personnel included head constables Joga Sodhi, Munna Ram Kadhti and Santosh Tamo, recruit constables Dulgo Mandavi, Lakhmu Markam, Joga Kawasi and Harirram Mandavi, secret soldiers Raju Ram Kartam, Jairam Podiyam and Jagdish Kawasi and driver (civilian) Dhani Ram Yadav.
Condolences and condemnation poured in from across the country with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi tweeting on the incident.
“Strongly condemn the attack on the Chhattisgarh police in Dantewada. I pay my tributes to the brave personnel we lost in the attack. Their sacrifice will always be remembered. My condolences to the bereaved families,” PM Modi tweeted.
“The news of the martyrdom of 10 DRG jawans and a driver in the cowardly Naxalite attack in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada is sad. I express my deepest condolences to their bereaved families in this difficult time. My salute and tribute to all the brave martyrs,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who earlier said that the last phase fight was on and Maoists will not be spared at any cost, cancelled his Karnataka poll campaign tour in view of the tragic incident. Baghel was slated to leave for Karnataka on Wednesday evening.
BJP leader Brijmohan Agrawal, a former home minister, attacked the Congress government in the state alleging that it was adopting a soft attitude towards the Maoists leading to such incidents. He said that the Congress government was wiping off Maoists just on papers and failed to take strong steps to finish off the insurgency and violence.
The Dantewada incident is one of the biggest after the April 3, 2021 incident in Tarrem of Bijapur district, where 22 CRPF, DRG and CoBRA personnel were killed and over 30 were injured after a huge posse of Maoists attacked them, reportedly in presence of senior leaders. The Maoists had also abducted one CoBRA jawan Rakeshwar Singh Manhas and looted arms of the slain personnel, though he was later released following mediation by prominent citizens.
Incident part of TCOC
The Wednesday attack by Maoist seems to be a part of their ongoing tactical counter offensive campaign (TCOC) in Bastar division. This campaign is mostly carried out during the first half of the year before the start of the rainy season (June) and Maoists attempt to engineer big attacks during this campaign.
There have been incidents of setting fire to equipment involved in road and other constructions and on April 18, a convoy of Congress MLA Vikram Mandavi was attacked in Bijapur on the Bijapur-Gangalur road. The convoy was fired upon by the Maoists, but fortunately there was no loss of life. Following this incident, the spokesperson of Maoists Western Bastar Divisional Committee, Mohan had said that the attack had not targeted politicians, but was carried out under the belief that it was a police convoy. The spokesperson said that the attack was part of the TCOC being carried out in the region since January this year.
