Eight CRPF jawans were killed when a Maoist group blew up a vehicle near Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh on this day.
Naxal Attack in Chhattisgarh – Background
In this edition of This Day in History, you can read about the dastardly Maoist attack at Dantewada which saw the death of security men. Maoist-Naxal violence is an important aspect of the internal security concerns in India and you must be aware of this issue for the IAS exam.
- About a month after the horrific Dantewada attack by Maoists in which 76 security personnel were killed, they struck again on 8 May 2010, near District Bijapur in Chhattisgarh state.
- The attackers blew up a bullet-proof vehicle in which the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men were travelling.
- It was an IED landmine blast (improvised explosive device) which was triggered near a village called Pedakodepal on the National Highway 16, situated in Bijapur District.
- The men were traveling in a bunker vehicle from Murkinal, their company headquarters to a battalion headquarters nearby.
- They belonged to 168 Battalion. The blast, apart from killing 8 people, also injured 10 others. They were later admitted to a hospital in Jagdalpur.
- Sadly, the security personnel had been warned not to travel in Naxal-troubled areas.
- The blast was so terrible that it caused an 8-feet crater on the macadamized road.
- The killed CRPF personnel were SI Santosh Chaurasia, Head Constable (HC) Hazarilal, who was driving the vehicle, HC M Subramaniam, HC HK Ghosh, Rakesh Meena, Tekram Verma, Ilaab Singh and Santosh Chauhan.
- The next deadly attack came on June 29th, 2010 in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district in which 26 CRPF jawans were killed.
- Every year, many lives are lost in such Maoist attacks.
- The Naxalite-Maoist terror menace is believed by some to India’s biggest internal security issue. In 2011, police groups in India had accused China and Pakistan of providing financial support to the Naxals.
- The chief organisation behind the insurgency is the Communist Party of India (Maoist). This party which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the government of India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, aims to depose the existing state machinery in India and establish a Maoist regime in the country.
- They claim to wage this war for the legitimate rights of tribal and other people living in the forest belts of the country.
You can read more on Internal Security for the UPSC exam from the links below:
Left-wing Extremism (Naxalism) – UPSC Notes
Civil Services Main (Written) Examination General Studies Paper III
Also on this day 1916: Birth of spiritual leader Chinmayananda Saraswati.
See previous ‘This Day in History’ here.
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