BJP MLA from Dantewada Bhima Mandavi and four security personnel were killed on Tuesday when their convoy was attacked by Naxalites in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, police said.

The incident occurred at Shyamagiri hills when the MLA's convoy was heading towards Kuwakonda from Bacheli area, which is about 450 km from State capital Raipur.

The Naxalites blew up a vehicle in the convoy with an IED and opened fire at the occupants, killing the MLA and four security personnel, police officials said.

Security forces have been rushed to the area, they said.

A crater is formed on the road after the convoy was attacked by Maoists in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on April 9, 2019.   | Photo Credit: PTI

The attack is reminiscent of a similar incident that took place in the Naxal hotbed of Bastar ahead of the Assembly elections in May 2013. Twenty-seven people, including senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma and former Union Minister V.C. Shukla, were killed in the ambush.

Before the Assembly elections in November 2018, a CISF personnel and three civilians were killed in Dantewada when an improvised explosive device planted by Naxalites tore through a bus.

Dantewada falls in the Bastar Lok Sabha seat which will go to polls in the first phase on April 11.