Raipur, June 10: Maoist guerrillas used an estimated 00kg of explosives to blow up a mine-protected vehicle in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district last night, killing 10 security personnel and injuring three critically, officers said today.
Seven of the dead were special police officers (SPOs) — tribal youths recruited and trained to help the law-keepers — and the other three were police constables.
Experts said mine-protected vehicles (MPVs) are usually designed to withstand blasts with 8-10kg of explosives, and not 100kg. Besides, although an MPV’s design allows it to divert the splinter after a blast, a powerful explosion can toss the vehicle in the air and injuries can be caused when it lands.
Dantewada police chief Ankit Garg said the MPV was not torn apart by the blast like an ordinary vehicle, but its armoured plate was severely cracked. One of the wheels was found 500 metres from the spot.
The blast lifted the vehicle several feet high and left behind a 10-foot-deep crater, Garg said, claiming that 100kg of explosives was used. He said the policemen inside had taken all precautions, such as fastening their seat belts and wearing their helmets.
A forensic team would find out what kind of explosive was used. Officers said experts from the ordnance factory in Medak (Andhra Pradesh), which supplies these vehicles, would arrive to study the blast’s impact on the vehicle.
The ambush took place around midnight at Gatam near Katekalyan, about 450km from the state capital. The policemen, travelling in two MPVs, were to launch a search operation in the forests today.
The rebels had planted two powerful landmines on either side of a bridge. The first vehicle crossed the bridge safely but the one behind was blown up.
MPVs have failed to protect their occupants in several earlier attacks too, raising questions about Indian police’s capability and equipment in their battle against the rebels.
The MPVs have high ground-clearance with V-shaped undercarriages to deflect the impact of the blast and the floor is heavily armoured. The heavier the armour, the greater the protection, but the greater the requirement of engine power too.
On September 3, 2005, 23 policemen and a civilian were killed in an explosion that tossed their anti-landmine vehicle 20 feet in the air and split it into two on the Gangalur road in Dantewada. In May the same year, then Narayanpur superintendent of police Ravindra Bhedia and six policemen had a miraculous escape when Maoists blew up the anti-landmine vehicles in which they were travelling near the Pharasgaon forests in the district.
Last night’s attack came hours after the Maoists killed five security personnel early in the morning in neighbouring Narayanpur district. The rebels fired in a field near a security camp as the jawans relieved themselves, and took away an AK-47 and a self-loading rifle (SLR).
More than 30 security personnel have been killed in Maoist attacks in Chhattisgarh in the past one month. Seven CRPF jawans were killed in a blast on May 17, and nine policemen, including an additional superintendent, in an ambush near the Orissa border on May 24.
Dantewada is a Naxalite hotbed. Two years ago, Naxalites had killed 76 Central Reserve Police Force jawans in an attack in the district. The guerrillas have killed 30 police personnel in the state this year.
