Ahead of PM’s visit, blast kills 5 in C’garh

Raipur, November 8

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Four civilians and a CISF jawan were killed in an IED blast inside a bus, suspected to be the handiwork of Naxals, in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district on Thursday, ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Jagdalpur district, about 100 km from Dantewada, on Friday to campaign for the BJP.

Also, two personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were injured in the third Naxal attack in 15 days in the poll-bound state.

The IED explosion took place in a hilly area in Bacheli, about 450 km from here, when the CISF personnel were returning to their camp in Akashnagar after purchasing groceries, Dantewada SP Abhishek Pallava said.

“The Naxals triggered a powerful IED blast, killing a CISF jawan, the bus driver, conductor, cleaner and another person, who is yet to be identified,” he said. 

The private bus was allotted to the CISF team deployed in the Bailadila mining area of the National Mining Development Corporation in Dantewada for election duty.

On October 30, three police personnel and a Doordarshan cameraman were killed in a Maoist attack in Dantewada’s Aranpur area. Prior to that, on October 27, four CRPF personnel were killed and two injured after Maoists blew up a bulletproof bunker vehicle in Bijapur district. The Naxalites have asked voters to boycott the Assembly polls, to be held in two phases. — PTI