Raipur, June 8: Three jawans of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were killed and two others critically injured today when Naxalite guerrillas detonated a landmine and blew up a jeep in which they were travelling near Dalli Rajhara in Durg.
The jawans were on a patrolling duty in the area, as a huge quantity of explosives was scheduled to reach Mahamaya mines of Bhilai Steel Plant — the flagship entity of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) later in the day.
The rebels had struck in Mahamaya mines on March 27 evening and had looted 1.75 tonnes of explosives.
This is, however, the first landmine attack in the area.
Jawans were travelling in a jeep ignoring orders to move in bikes.
Their jeep passed a powerful landmine in a thickly forested pocket, 9km from Dalli Rajhara and 150km from here, around noon.
“The impact of the blast was so severe that three personnel, including a sub-inspector, were killed on the spot,” said Durg’s district superintendent of police Deepanshu Kabra. Two others were injured in the blast, he added. The injured have been admitted to Bhilai SAIL hospital. The condition of both was reported to be critical.
The rebels managed to disappear in the thick forests before the additional force could reach the spot. Senior officials did not rule out the possibility that the rebels had laid the trap to loot trucks loaded with explosives.
The trucks carrying the explosives were scheduled to pass through the spot an hour later.
This is the second major attack on CISF, which is assigned to guard industrial facilities. Earlier, rebels raided the magazine of National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) in Dantewada and looted 20 tonnes of explosives after killing eight CISF jawans.
NMDC, India’s largest iron ore producer and exporter, is still reeling from the attack.
Production stalled
The production in the Dantewada mining facilities remained stalled on the fourth consecutive day today as power could not be restored in Bastar after the red army blew up power towers.