The Hindu : Front Page : 10 Mizo jawans killed in Chhattisgarh blast

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 30, 2007
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10 Mizo jawans killed in Chhattisgarh blast

Staff Reporter

KHAMMAM: Ten jawans of the Mizo Battalion were among 12 persons killed in a landmine blast triggered by naxalites of the CPI (Maoist) on Thursday.

The jeep in which they were travelling in, some 6 km from the divisional headquarters of Konta in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, was targeted around 1.15 p.m. The naxalites walked away with some 10 sophisticated weapons, which included Insas rifles and AK 47s.

According to reports, two students were also travelling with the jawans. The jeep driver and the cleaner died on the spot. The blast created a huge crater in the middle of the road while wreckage of the jeep landed almost 100 metres away from the spot under the impact of the explosion.

The bodies were found soaked in a pool of blood and limbs were found dangling on tree tops.

The incident took place when the jawans were on their way back from the weekly tribal shandy held at Konta in the day.

They all boarded a private jeep which was bound for Banda — one of the Maoist stronghold villages on the Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border. Jeep driver S. K. Jakeer had reportedly advised them to have some civilians on board along with them on their return journey.

Two college students from the village of Banda were forced to join them.

The naxalites who were reportedly in waiting for the police triggered the blast just a kilometre away from the village killing all the occupants.

The sub-divisional police officer of Konta, Prafful Tagore, accompanied by some 70 Salva Judum activists and 100 other tribesmen living in the Konta base camp from the base camp reached the place of the tragedy.

The bodies were brought to Konta with the help of civilians late in the evening.

The post-mortem examination would be conducted by a team of doctors before airlifting the bodies to Raipur.

Prime target

The Mizo jawans had been the prime target of the naxalites of CPI (Maoist) for quite some time.

Trained in fighting guerrilla warfare even in the hostile terrain, armed jawans from the Second Mizoram Reserve Police Battalion were deployed in Bastar in October last year.

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