Maoists target security personnel in village where Salwa Judum was born

The IED blast at Ambeli village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district claimed lives of eight DRG personnel and a driver

Kothagudem: Monday’s ghastly IED blast in Chhattisgarh saw Maoists targeting security personnel in the area where the biggest movement against naxals, the ‘Salwa Judum’, was started. Salwa Judum was started from Ambeli village under Kutru police station limits in June 2005.

Unsettling scenes were found at the IED blast site at Ambeli village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district that claimed lives of eight DRG personnel travelling in an SUV and the driver of the vehicle on Monday.

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The blast triggered by Maoists – who were waiting for revenge after losing many of their comrades in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana and Odisha in recent encounters by security forces – left bodies and a 10-feet crater on the road while the wreckage of the vehicle was found on a nearby 40-feet-tall Mahua tree.

According to sources, the convoy of nine vehicles was moving together. There were 9-10 security personnel in each vehicle. Seven vehicles were ahead of the convoy, while the eighth vehicle, which was a Mahindra Scorpio, came under attack by the Maoists.

The explosion was so powerful that a DRG jawan was thrown out of the Scorpio and fell on a vehicle behind it damaging its windscreen. The bodies of several security personnel were torn apart due to the blast impact and the rescue teams were forced to piece them together.

It might be noted that a joint party of the Special Task Force (STF) with the District Reserve Guard (DRG) of Narayanpur, Dantewada, Jagdalpur and Kondagaon districts started an anti-naxal operation last Friday.

Four cadres of CPI (Maoist) party were gunned down in an encounter on Sunday. After walking in the jungle for four days, the soldiers were tired, so they boarded the pick-up vehicles.

It was suspected that an IED might have been planted beneath the road during its construction itself as there was no patchwork visible on the road where the blast took place. IED used in the blast could have been around 60-70 kg in weight, said sources.

The deceased security personnel include Korsa Budhram, Somdu Ventil, Dumma Madkam, Baman Sodi, Harish Korram, Pandaru Poyam, Sudarshan Vetti and Subharnath Yadav. The driver has not yet been identified.