Chhattisgarh: 9 killed as Naxals blow up vehicle carrying security jawans

In Chhattisgarh, eight jawans and a driver were killed in Bijapur district when Maoists used an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to blow up their vehicle. The nine were returning from an operation when the IED blew up the Scorpio SUV at Kutru in the Bastar region around 2.15 pm on Monday. The maoist attack on DRG, a unit of the state police, is the biggest strike on security personnel by Naxalites in the last two years.

Chhattisgarh: An IED blast occurred near Ambeli village on Kutru-Bedre road, Bijapur. The blast targeted a joint operation team returning from Dantewada, Narayanpur, and Bijapur. Nine personnel, including 8 DRG soldiers and one driver, were martyred pic.twitter.com/E1rQnPIYnj

— IANS (@ians_india) January 6, 2025

Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister Arun Sao called the attack “cowardly”, saying that the sacrifice of the soldiers won’t go to waste. Our government will fulfil its promise to make Bastar free from Naxalism by March 2026, the deputy CM said.
Earlier, security forces attacked Maoists in the Abujhmad region of Chhattisgarh and killed five rebels, including two women. Automatic weapons such as AK 47 and Self-Loading Rifles have been recovered. It was this operation that the jawans were returning from when the rebels targeted them. Last year, 219 Naxalites were gunned down by security forces in separate encounters in the state, according to police.