Naxal attack in Gadchiroli kills 12 CRPF men
The naxals had dug a tunnel below the road and placed the bomb around 10 feet below it
While 12 personnel including three sub inspectors died, 28 constables of the ‘192 batallion’ of the Central Reserve Police Force were injured after Naxals triggered a blast targeting their bus on an inter-state road in Dhanora Taluka in Gadchiroli district on Tuesday morning. The bus was part of a fleet of CRPF vehicles ferrying personnel for a civic action programme in Gatta village.
The attack came on a day when CRPF chief K Vijay Kumar was on tour in the Gadchiroli area.
CRPF officials said around 40 kilograms of explosives was used by the Naxals in the container bomb that they had placed below the road. Ten tribal men who were found running away from the spot have been held for questioning.
Around 11:30am on Tuesday, a Tata bus carrying 40 CRPF men was driving down Karfawa-Gatta Road when near Pustela village Naxals triggered the container bomb they had placed below the road. “The Naxals had dug a tunnel below the road and placed the bomb around 10 feet below it. They were hiding behind a tree around 200 feet away from the road detonated the bomb that was connected with a wire,” said commandent Ashok Samyal of CRPF.
Two choppers were rushed to the spot to rescue the officers. “Our men spotted some people running and they were nabbed by them. They claim to be local tribals and we are verifying their credentials. There is no farm or house near the spot and we wonder what they were doing there during noon when the heat is harsh. We have not yet arrested anyone but are making enquiries,” he said.
Around six companies of the CRPF having about 70 members each have been dispatched in the nearby jungles to carry out search operations.
“We hold civic action programmes regularly in villages to come close to the villagers. We listen to their grievances and also offer them help like holding medical camps, giving sewing machines to widows etc. To make the programme popular, we also organise sports events in which villagers participate. This event was being conducted on Tuesday and even I was to visit the village. The word about the event had spread and we think that Naxals were preparing to attack us ever since they came to know about it,” Samyal said.
The impact of the blast was so much that that two officers were thrown up on an electric wire that was around 110 feet above the ground. “I was contacted immediately and I disconnected the power on the line. But the bodies were charred,” said electrical engineer Amol Patil.
The deceased have been identified as sub inspectors H Katre, Hajra and A Kanhaiya Singh and constables Babulal Meena, Shivanand Yaav, Rakesh Kumr, Anil Upadhyayae, Vishnu Pande, Jitendra Kumar, Digvijay Singh, Vishwajeet Baarik and P K Shibbu. While eight seriously injured men have been sent to a hospital in Nagpur, 20 others were sent to a local hospital in Gadchiroli.
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