Dantewada Maoist Attack: 11, including 10 DRG jawans, killed in IED blast in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR: RAIPUR: At least 10 personnel of the District Reserve Guards (DRG) and their civilian driver were killed on Wednesday when Maoists detonated a powerful IED on a kuchha road and fired on the wounded jawans near Aranpur in Dantewada district of Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.
Police believe 50kg of explosives were used in the blast.
The DRG personnel were on a search operation when Maoists detonated the IED, Dantewada SP Siddharth Tiwari told TOI.

The IED blast was so powerful that it created a crater 12-feet deep and around 25-feet across, spanning the entire width of the village road. The vehicle was blown to smithereens and some of the rifles were bent out of shape by the shockwave.
This is the biggest Maoist attack since the April 3, 2021 ambush in Bijapur where 22 jawans were killed and 30 were injured. It comes in election year, and soon after the central and state governments said that Maoist activities are on the wane.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, governor Biswabhushan Harichandan and chief minister Bhupesh Baghel expressed their condolences. Shah spoke with Baghel and assured all possible help to the state government.


The DRG — whose ranks are filled with tribals, including surrendered Maoists — is often in the crosshairs as it spearheads anti-insurgency operations and takes the fight into Maoist strongholds.
Bastar range IG P Sundarraj said that the DRG team set off from their headquarters in Dantewada town after police received information about the presence of Maoists from the Darbha division in Puru Hidma region.

Aranpur, around 70km from Dantewada, sits in a hotbed of Maoist insurgency, ringed by places like Minpa, Kirandul, Gangaloor, Bade Bacheli and Palnar, the sites of much bloodshed.
Around 200 DRG jawans went out on the mission on the night of April 25. On Wednesday morning, a gunfight broke out between them and Maoists in Nahadi village, around 7km from Aranpur, which led to the arrest of two cadres, police said.
“After the operation, the jawans were returning to Dantewada when Maoists targeted their vehicle on the Aranpur-Sameli route,” said IG Sundarraj.
The jawans were travelling back in a convoy of MUVs, spaced 150 metre apart, when one of the vehicles was blown up at 1.30pm near Sameli village, around 20km from the morning’s encounter site and 45km from Dantewada. The jawans never had a chance as the explosion tossed the vehicle in the air and blew it to pieces.
Maoists fired at the troops after the explosion, leading to a brief gunfight, say police sources. Even during the gunbattle, DRG jawans raced to the bomb crater to rescue their comrades but they were all beyond help.
Officers didn’t rule out the possibility of surrendered Maoist cadres being among the victims. Most of those killed were natives of Dantewada.
Police recovered a long wire from the spot, which was used to trigger the IED. The soldiers’ remains and weapons were still being collected when this report was filed.
Those killed were identified as head constables Joga Sodhi, Munnaram Kadti, Santosh Tamo, constables Dulgo Mandavi, Lakhmu Markam, Joga Kawasi and Hariram Mandavai, and ‘gopaniya sainiks’ (undercover operatives) Raju Ram Kartam, Jairam Podiyam and Jagdish Kawasi. The driver, Dhaniram Yadav, was a civilian and the vehicle was privately owned.
Reinforcements were swiftly on the scene and a massive search operation was launched to track down the Maoists.
Officers said the area was sanitized well when the jawans had set out on the operation the previous night. But it has been seen in the past that Maoists plant IEDs upon learning about the return route of security forces. The spot where the DRG men were attacked is a straight stretch of road. Usually, such attacks happen on culverts or at curves on the road.
Watch Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel on Dantewada incident: ‘The incident is heart-rending, Naxalism will be uprooted’