Suspected armed cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) attacked an iron ore mine operated by the National Mineral Development Corporation at Bacheli in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Monday night.
According to intelligence sources, the attack began about 9.15 p.m. when about 40-45 armed persons set fire to two tipper trucks in the North Block of the NMDC's Akashnagar mine. While the drivers were set free, the gunmen engaged with Central Industrial Security Force personnel posted at the mines in an encounter that lasted at least an hour.
Intelligence sources told The Hindu that though the intensity of the encounter had died down, sporadic gunfire could still be heard.
Sources in Bacheli said workers from the second shift (2 p.m. to 10 p.m.) were still stuck in the mine, even as third shift workers were waiting for the gunfire to abate.
Over the last few years, Maoists have repeatedly struck at NMDC's mining operations.
In February 2006, they attacked a depot in Hiroli and made off with nearly 20 tonnes of mining explosive. Earlier this year, Maoist fighters destroyed a pipeline intended to supply iron ore slurry from the NMDC mines in Dantewada to an Essar iron ore plant in Andhra Pradesh.
