Naxals blew up a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) vehicle, killing four people including an army man, police said, days before assembly elections in Chhattisgarh.
According to initial reports, the Naxals triggered an IED blast on a bus near Bacheli in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada. The attack has taken place a few days after a Doordarshan cameraman was killed in a Naxal ambush in the same region.
Naxals responsible for the cameraperson killing had released a statement alleging that the victim was caught in an ambush and that they did not intend to ‘target the media’.
The statement released by Sainath, Secretary of the Darbha divisional committee of the Maoists read, “DD Cameraman Achyutananda Sahu was killed after being caught in the ambush and we had no intention of targeting the media.”
Two CISF personnel were also injured in the incident, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava told PTI.
The explosion took place in a hilly area in Bacheli in Dantewada when the personnel were returning to their camp after purchasing groceries from the market, Pallava said. The civilians killed in the blast included the bus’ driver, conductor and cleaner, he added.
The personnel belonged to a CISF unit that has been deployed in the area for the first phase of the forthcoming polls in the state.
Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Chhattisgarh next week in two phases on November 12 and November 20. The first phase is to be held in the Naxal affected constituencies of Bastar region that falls in the southern part of the central Indian state.
