Four civilians and a CISF jawan were killed when suspected Maoists blew up a bus with an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Thursday, four days ahead of the first phase of Assembly polls in the state, police said.
Two personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were also injured in the explosion, the third Naxal attack in 15 days in the poll-bound state.
The attack comes before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit on Friday to Jagdalpur district, about 100 km from Dantewada, to campaign for the BJP.
The IED explosion took place in a hilly area in Bacheli, about 450 km from here, when the CISF personnel, belonging to the 502nd battalion, were returning to their camp in Akashnagar area after purchasing groceries from a local market, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava said. The Naxals triggered a powerful IED blast near Curve No. 6 on the hills, he said.
Those killed in the blast were identified as CISF head constable D Mukhopadhyay, bus driver Ramesh Patkar, helpers Roshan Kumar Sahu and Johan Nayak, and a truck driver, Sushil Banjare.
The truck driver had taken a lift in the bus, another police official said.
Two CISF constables — Pathare Satish and Pishal Suresh — were injured in the attack, Pallava said. Reinforcements were rushed to the spot and the injured personnel and bodies shifted to hospital.
Security forces have launched a combing operation in the area to trace the ultras.
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