Naxalites Strike Again-Massacre Civilians in Dantewada

Media Reports
Bellevision Media Network

Raipur, 18 May 2010: In yet another daring attack, Moists (Naxalites)have blown up a civilian bus in Dantewada district around 4:30 on Monday, 17th May 2010  killing about forty persons including several security personnel and Special Police Officers (SPOs). The casualty figures might increase. The bus was blown up by a powerful land mine on the Dantewada-Sukma Road, around 450 km south of state capital Raipur. The bus was carrying civilians and SPOs.  According to an earlier report, 36 civilians and 20 SPOs were onboard the bus. The passenger bus was completely mangled with its front portion squeezed into a steel ball. Several bodies, which were brought out from the bus, were mutilated. 

This is the third big attack in Dantewada in last one month."No CRPF jawans were travelling in the bus," Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said. State police chief Viswa Ranjan said about 100 SPOs had gone to Dantewada on May 15 for an anti-Naxal operation. Some of them returned by the bus. Under the Standard Operation Procedures, the security personnel have been advised not to use civilian vehicles. 

 Strongly condemning the attack, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said the Centre will have to re-look at its strategy deal with the Left Wing extremists. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said he would urge Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to re-examine the strategy to tackle the Naxal menace, who were targeting innocent civilians. 

Dantewada had witnessed the worst-ever massacre of CRPF jawans on April 6, when 76 jawans were killed in a Naxal ambush. On May 8, seven CRPF jawans were killed when Naxals blew up a bullet-proof vehicle in Bijapur district. The Maoists also killed six villagers, including a sarpanch, near Teregaon in Rajnandgaon district on May 16 and threw their bodies outside the villages. This was the first such attack on a civilian passenger bus. Security personnel in civilian clothes travelling on the bus are believed to have been the main targets of the attack. SPOs are mostly local people recruited to fight the Maoists and have emerged as the biggest threat to them.