Raipur: After the attack on security personnel in Bijapur district, Chattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said the sacrifice of the jawans won’t go in vain. He also added that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was determined to end naxalism by 2026.
“I seek apology as today an unfortunate thing happened…for the last year, govt and jawans are strongly fighting naxalism…today, 8 DRG jawans who were returning from search (operation), in Bijapur district, Naxalists ambushed their vehicle…8 jawans and the driver of the vehicle lost their life in the IED blast…let’s observe 1 minute silence and pay tribute to them. I condemn this attack. This sacrifice of jawans won’t go in vain…surely, naxalism will end and peace will prevail in Chhattisgarh,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Sai had said: “The whole country knows that it has been more than 1 year since our government came to power. Our soldiers are fighting strongly against Naxalism, the Union Home Minister is also determined to end Naxalism by March 2026. I am confident that his determination will be fulfilled.”
In one of the biggest strikes by Naxalites in the past two years, eight District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel –a unit of Chattisgarh state police—and a driver were killed after Naxals blew up their vehicle using an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Monday. According to reports, the blast occurred on the Bedre-Kutru Road in the district. This happened at a time the security personnel were returning from an operation.
The security personnel were returning from an operation when the incident happened. The DRG is a unit of the state police.
“For the last 3 days, in Narayanpur district, Dantewada and Bijapur region, anti-Naxalites operation was going on. During this operation, we had recovered the bodies of 5 naxals and one jawan had lost his life…when the team was returning, in Bijapur’s Ambeli area, an IED blast was carried out by Naxals. 8 Dantewada DRG jawans and one driver lost their lives in the attack,” IG Bastar, P Sundarraj, told ANI.
On April 26, 2023, ten police personnel and a civilian driver were killed after Naxals blew up their vehicle, part of a convoy carrying security personnel in neighbouring Dantewada district.
Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker and former Chief Minister Raman Singh said, “Whenever big operations are conducted against them, these Naxalites resort to cowardly attacks. I express my condolences to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives in this attack”