Twenty six Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were martyred and at least six others were injured in an attack by Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district yesterday.
Reports have now emerged that bodies of several jawans were mutilated by Maoists and that they were planning to target other jawans who rushed to the rescue of injured ones.
The survivors couldn’t call for help as rebels took away their radio sets and other equipment leading to more causalities.
When the second group, who were deployed to guard the staff of a road construction company in the area, noticed the failure of their colleagues to call them at a scheduled time, went looking and walked into the ambush.
In all, 25 personnel were killed and six were admitted a hospital in Raipur. In a later nigh statement, the CRPF said that the troops replied in a befitting manner, causing considerable damage.
Hidima group behind attack?
The attack, suspected to be carried out by Hidima group, also sparked suspicion of intelligence failure. It is said that women wing of the Naxalites also joined the attack and they used the arms which were looted on March 12 from CRPF jawans.
"First Naxals sent villagers to trace our location, then almost 300 Naxals attacked us. We also fired and killed many. They were around 300 and we were around 150, we kept firing. I shot 3-4 Naxals in the chest,” injured CRPF jawan Sher Mohammed said.
Sources said that seven jawans are still missing and operations are underway on a war-footing to trace them.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Raipur today to pay tributes to CRPF jawans. Singh said that the government has taken as a challenge the killing of CRPF personnel as he termed the attack a ‘sad and an unfortunate incident’ and vowed that no one will be spared.
Singh also briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the attack last night. According to news agency PTI, Singh apprised the Prime Minister of the circumstances leading to the attack and steps taken for the treatment of those injured.
Since April 2010, nearly 200 security personnel have died in six major attacks in Chhattisgarh.
