In a significant revelation, it’s been learnt that the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which triggered the massive explosion that killed a total of 10 District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel along with a driver was planted at the time of Dantewada-Aranpur road construction in 2012, suggests sources familiar with the fateful development, it was also learnt that the IED was planted so neatly by the Maoists that even the Deep Search Metal Detector (DSMD) machine was unable to trace it.
Also, the weight of the IED that exploded in Aranpur was around 50 kg which led to a strong explosion that ultimately split the road by putting a ten mtr deep wrench and blew up the security personnel vehicle in the Bastar region of the insurgency-hit State.
In a horrific incident on April 26, as many as ten DRG personnel and a civilian driver were martyred in an intense IED explosion that rocked the Maoist-hit Dantewada of Chhattisgarh.
As per the initial information, the fateful incident occurred when DRG personnel returned from a search operation when an IED explosion detonated by Maoists hit their vehicle near the Aranpur-Sameli region under the Aranpur police station limits of Dantewada.
It’s been reported that the DRG personnel were out on a search operation after they got some specific intel about the presence of some armed cadres of the Darbha division of the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army, the armed wing of the illegal Communist Party of India (Maoist) near Puru Hidma of the Aranpur region.
In a video released after the incident, IG Bastar range P Sundar Raj, while confirming the attack, said that the DRG Jawans were out on a combing operation in the Aranpur area of Dantewada. When the personnel returned to the district headquarters, an IED explosion occurred near the Aranpur-Sameli area, in which as many as 10 DRG personnel were martyred.
Reinforcement has been immediately rushed to the spot, and the evacuation process of the bodies of Martyred personnel is being carried out; more details about the incident are still awaited, added IG Sundarraj.
On the other hand, it’s been learnt that it is pretty unusual in the region for DRG personnel to use a vehicle for movement, which ultimately became fatal for them as the area falls under one of the most Maoist-affected sensitive zones and IEDs planted by the Maoists have been regularly seized by the forces from time to time.
Meanwhile, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel about the situation and assured him of all possible assistance from the centre; the Home Minister, in a tweet, also paid tribute to the Jawans martyred in the attack and expressed his anguish over the cowardly attack.
In a statement earlier showing his grief, Chief Minister Baghel said that the “incident is heart rending and the sacrifice of the Jawans will not be wasted, there is huge pressure on the Maoists that is why they did this cowardice, Naxalism will be uprooted.”
On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while strongly condemning the attack, paid his tributes to the Braveheart who lost their lives in the line of duty; the PM in his tweet said, ” Strongly Condemn the attack on the Chhattisgarh police in Dantewada; I Pay my tributes to the brave personnel we lost in the attack, their sacrifice will always be remembered, my condolences to the bereaved families.
It is to be noted that this is the first such large-scale casualties that have occurred in the last two years since the security forces upped the ante in the Maoists stronghold of Bastar after the Bijapur attack in April 2021 in which a total of 22 security personnel got martyred.
