Bastar attack: Fight against Naxals will be intensified to end menace, says Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached Chhattisgarh on Monday and held a high-level meeting in connection with the Maoist attack in the state’s Bastar region that claimed the lives of 22 security personnel.

Shah, along with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, paid tributes to the soldiers and laid wreaths on their coffins in Jagdalpur.

#WATCH: Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel lay wreath at the coffins of 14 security personnel who lost their lives in the Naxal attack, in Jagdalpu pic.twitter.com/fyHZSE6mjG

— ANI (@ANI) April 5, 2021

Talking to reporters after chairing a high-level meeting here on the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) situation, Shah said the sacrifices of the security personnel will always be remembered for taking this battle to a “decisive turn”.

“I want to assure the country that this fight will not be stopped, rather it will continue with more intensity till the end. In this fight, our victory is definite in the end,” Shah said.

During his visit, Shah will also meet some of the injured security personnel in a hospital, a home ministry official said. It will be Shah’s first visit to the Bastar region after assuming the charge of Union Home Minister, he added.

In Jagdalpur, the wreath was laid on the mortal remains of 14 security personnel, while tributes would be paid to the other deceased jawans at the Bijapur district headquarters, the official said.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the CRPF chief’s statement that the operation was not an intel failure as around 30 Maoists were killed. “If there was no intelligence failure then a 1:1 death ratio means it was a poorly designed and incompetently executed operation. Our Jawans are not cannon fodder to be martyred at will,” Rahul wrote on Twitter.

Twenty-two security personnel were killed and 31 others injured in a gunfight with Maoists between Jonaguda and Tekalguda villages along the border of Sukma and Bijapur districts on Saturday.

(With inputs from PTI)