RAIPUR: The IED triggered Monday, killing eight constables and a driver, was planted long ago, authorities said, with grass growing on the wires connected to it.
“It was probably a command IED, one that is triggered manually by Maoists with a switch wired to the bomb,” Dantewada DIG Kamlochan Kashyap said. The blast was triggered near Ambeli and Karkeli villages.
The IED attack occurred on an unpaved road in Kutru region. The route had been “sanitised” and a road-opening party had passed the spot a short while prior to the attack, sources said. The blast was so powerful that it catapulted the SUV several metres into the air, creating a crater 8-10 feet deep. The impact scattered the bodies and remnants of the vehicle around the 20ft-wide crater, leaving no survivors.
Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai extended his condolences to families of the slain cops and vowed to continue the battle against Maoists. “Naxals are resorting to cowardly acts out of frustration. They are disheartened by the anti-Naxal operations in Bastar,” Sai said.
In Abujhmarh forests, body of another slain Maoist was found Monday, taking the toll to five in the operation that began Saturday and continued through Sunday. The forces found an AK-47 assault rifle, an SLR, and a large quantity of explosives at the site.
