In their biggest strike on security forces in Chhattisgarh in two years, Maoists blew up a vehicle using an improvised explosive device weighing 60 to 70 kg, killing eight security personnel and their civilian driver in Bijapur district on Monday, the police said.
The police suspect the powerful IED was planted a long time back along the route used by security personnel.
The explosive device went off near Ambeli village under the Kutru police station area at around 2.15 pm when DRG personnel from Dantewada district were returning in their Scorpio vehicle after conducting an anti-Maoist operation, said inspector general of police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P.
Eight security personnel, four each from District Reserve Guard and Bastar Fighters - both units of state police- who were travelling in the SUV and the driver were killed on the spot, located around 70 km from the Bijapur district headquarters, the official added.
Earlier the police had said all jawans killed in the attack belonged to DRG.
DRG draws its personnel mostly from the local tribal population and ranks of surrendered Naxalites.
Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the bodies were being evacuated. A search operation was launched in the area by security forces to hunt down those responsible for the killings, Sundarraj said.
"The personnel targeted by Left-Wing extremists were involved in an anti-Naxalite operation carried out for three days from January 3 on the borders of Narayanpur, Dantewada and Bijapur districts in the Bastar region by joint teams of security personnel," the IG said.
Five Maoists and a DRG head constable were killed in the three-day-long operation, he said.
Personnel belonging to DRG from Dantewada, Bijapur, Bastar, Kondagaon, and Narayanpur, and Special Task Force (STF) were involved in the operation in south Abujhmaad.
After the operation, patrolling teams reached Bedre (Bijapur) and from there left for their respective district headquarters (in different vehicles) after proper patrolling by Road Opening Party and de-mining exercise on the route, deputy inspector general of police (south Bastar) Kamlochan Kashyap said.
A vehicle carrying DRG and Bastar Fighters personnel from Dantewada was targeted by Maoists using IED, he added.
"It seems the IED used in the attack weighed 60 kg to 70 kg. Forensic experts at the spot are gathering exact details," Kashyap said.
The preliminary investigation suggests the IED was old and planted a long time ago as wires connected to it were buried deep in the ground and grass had grown on the layer of soil over the device, he said.
Kashyap admitted to lapses leading to the tragic incident but did not elaborate further.
During an inspection of the blast site, around 150-metre-long wire connected to the trigger of the command IED was recovered, officials said.
Visuals from the spot, around 400 km from the state capital Raipur, showed a more than 10-foot deep crater that split the concrete road after the blast.
The vehicle was completely destroyed in the explosion while dismembered bodies were seen placed on plastic sheets. A part of the SUV and pieces of uniforms of jawans were seen hanging from nearby trees.
A woman from Kutru village, located around 1.5 km away from the blast site, told reporters that she heard a loud noise.
Initially, she and other villagers didn't understand anything but when they noticed the movement of security forces in the area, they realised something had happened.
The security personnel killed in the incident were identified as DRG's Head Constable Budhram Korsa and constables Pandaru Ram Poyay, Baman Sodhi and Dumma Markam, and Bastar Fighters' constables Somdu Vetti, Sudarshan Vetti, Subarnath Yadav and Harish Korram. The civilian driver was identified as Tuleshwar Rana, police said.
While Korsa and Sodhi belonged to the Bijapur district, other jawans hailed from the neighbouring Dantewada district. The driver was a resident of Bastar district, they said.
The bodies of jawans have been shifted to Dantewada district headquarters where the wreath-laying ceremony will be held on Tuesday.
This was the biggest strike by Maoists on security forces in Chhattisgarh in the last two years and the first in 2025 amid the Centre's push to eradicate the menace of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) by March 2026.
President Droupadi Murmu, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chhattisgarh Governor Ramen Deka and Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai expressed grief over the death of DRG personnel and the civilian driver in the blast.
The President said the country is determined to completely eradicate Naxalism.
"I am deeply saddened by the news of the loss of DRG soldiers in the IED blast in Bijapur (Chhattisgarh). I express my deepest condolences to the families of the brave soldiers. It is impossible to express this grief in words, but I assure the sacrifice of our soldiers will not go in vain. We will end Naxalism from India by March 2026," Shah said in a post on 'X'.
Governor Deka strongly condemned the Naxal attack as a heinous crime.
Chief Minister Sai said Naxalites were frustrated with the ongoing counter-insurgency operation in the Bastar region and therefore, have resorted to such cowardly acts. Martyrdom of jawans will not go in vain, he asserted.
In the last major assault, ten police personnel and a civilian driver were killed after Naxals blew up their vehicle, part of a convoy carrying security personnel in the neighbouring Dantewada district, on April 26, 2023.
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