JOIN US Senior officials from paramilitary CISF and the Union Home Ministry today rushed to Kirandul, a day after Naxals ambushed a CISF team and killed six troops and a civilian driver in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.
CISF Director General Rajiv, accompanied by Joint Secretary (Naxal Management) in the Home Ministry M A Ganapathy, CISF Special DG R R Varma and Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Jaideep Prasad left for Kirandul to review the security situation at the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) mines area.
The CISF jawans, including a head constable and five constables, were on patrol duty at the NMDC facility in Kirandul when armed Naxals ambushed them with heavy gunfire at around 2130 hours yesterday.
The CISF top brass is scheduled to hold a meeting with local police, administration and NMDC officials to chalk out a fresh security plan for the mines area in the Bailadila region, where skirmishes between Naxalites and security forces are frequent.
According to sources, the CISF, in the aftermath of the incident, may increase its troop strength in the area and ask NMDC to build more watch towers and enhance the perimeter security of the mines area.
During the ambush last night, the jawans, onboard a Bolero vehicle being driven by a civilian driver, were killed after a brief retaliation as the security personnel were soon outnumbered by the attacking Naxal squad.
The Naxals also looted five AK-47 rifles, one INSAS gun and a large quantity of ammunition belonging to the CISF men after they fell to their bullets. The Kirandul-Bacheli mines of the NMDC in the jungles of Dantewada are a Naxal hotbed. The CISF Director General had a few months back reviewed the security of the mines area.
The officials from Delhi and the state government will also pay their last respects to the martyred troops, who bodies will subsequently be sent to their home states.
Out of the six dead CISF men, four hailed from Rajasthan while two others were from Assam and Karnataka.