6 hurt as Naxals blow up truck with IED in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur

Raipur, November 14

Five security personnel returning from election duty and a civilian were injured when Maoists blew up a truck with an IED in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Wednesday, a senior police official said.

Four personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) and one of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) were among those injured, he said.

The incident took place around 9 am at Bijapur Ghati in the district, located around 450 km from state capital Raipur, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI.

After completing their duty in the first phase polling on Monday, the BSF personnel, along with the local police, left in a convoy from Modakpal to Dhamtari district for deployment for the second phase of polling on November 20, he said.

When they reached Bijapur Ghati, Maoists blew up the truck leading the convoy with an improvised explosive device (IED) hidden beneath the road, he said.

Assistant sub-inspector Naresh Singh (44), and constables Alok Singh (30), Narayan Singh (29) and Bhagwan Singh (45) of the BSF’s 414^th battalion, DRG constable Wasam Ganpat (43), and truck driver Mitram Ravte (40) suffered injuries in the blast, Garg said.

Following the explosion, an exchange of fire broke out between the security men and the ultras. After a brief encounter, the rebels fled the spot, he said.

Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured were initially shifted to a local hospital and later airlifted to Raipur for further treatment, the SP said.

A search operation was under way in the region to trace the ultras, he added.

On Monday, polling was held amid tight security in 18 constituencies in eight Naxal-affected districts of the state.

The rest 72 seats will go to polls on November 20 and the counting of votes will be held on December 11. PTI