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Chhattisgarh: 8 DRG jawans dead as Naxals blow up their vehicle in Bijapur; Shah says will end Naxalism by 2026
The blast reportedly took place on the Bedre-Kutru Road in Bijapur district.
Eight District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawans and one driver lost their lives after their vehicle was blown up by Naxals using an IED in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur on Monday, news agency PTI quoted Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P as saying.
The blast reportedly took place on the Bedre-Kutru Road in Bijapur district.
The jawans of DRG Dantewada, were returning in a Scorpio after a joint operation, the IG said. The joint operation was of Dantewada, Narayanpur and Bijapur, IG Bastar added.
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, PTI quoted an official. On April 26, 2023, ten police personnel and a civilian driver were killed after Naxals blew up their vehicle, which was part of a convoy carrying security personnel in neighbouring Dantewada district.
Home Minister Amit Shah took to microblogging platform X and said he was deeply saddened by the news of the loss of DRG soldiers in the IED blast in Bijapur. “It is impossible to express this grief in words, but I assure you that the sacrifice of our soldiers will not go in vain. We will end Naxalism from the land of India by March 2026,” Shah said.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai said in a post on X that the news of the killing of a driver along with eight soldiers in an IED blast carried out by Naxalites in Kutru of Bijapur district is extremely sad.
Offering condolences with the families of the jawans, CM Sai said Naxalites are 'frustrated with the ongoing Naxal eradication campaign in Bastar and are perpetrating such cowardly acts out of frustration." The martyrdom of the soldiers will not go in vain, our fight to end Naxalism will continue strongly, he added.
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.
Naxal encounter in Bastar
The incident comes on a day the death toll of Naxals in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region rose to five, with the recovery of one body in the operation that began on Saturday.
The gunfight broke out on Saturday evening at a forest in south Abujhmaad along the border of Narayanpur and Dantewada districts when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, an official said.
Four Naxalites were found dead initially on Sunday, while one more body was recovered later, the official added.
With this, the number of Naxalites killed in the gun battle with the security personnel rose to five, including two women, the official said.
District Reserve Guard (DRG) head constable Sannu Karam was also killed in the gunfight.
Search operation was underway in the area on Monday morning, the official said.
Personnel belonging to the DRG from four districts - Narayanpur, Bastar, Kondagaon and Dantewada - and the Special Task Force (STF) were involved in the operation that was launched on Friday, he said.
On January 3, a Naxalite was killed in an encounter with security forces in Gariaband district which falls in Raipur division.
Last year, 219 Naxalites were gunned down by security forces in separate encounters in the state, according to police.
