15 Security Personnel, Driver Killed In Maoist Attack In Maharashtra

Fifteen security personnel and their driver have been killed in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli after a powerful explosion, set off by Maoists, blew up their vehicle. An improvised explosive device (IED) blast was triggered on a police vehicle in the Maoist-affected district that borders Chhattisgarh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the attack “despicable” and said that the “perpetrators of such violence will not be spared”.

The incident comes weeks after an IED blast near a polling booth in Gadchiroli on April 11, during the first phase of the national election. No one was injured in the incident. A day before that,a CRPF trooper was critically injured in an IED blast in Gadchiroli.

Early this morning, Maoists torched 25 vehicles at a road construction site in Kurkheda of Gadchiroli district. They torched the vehicles, which were parked along the road, using kerosene and diesel, police officer Shailesh Balkawade.

The two incidents come on a day when Maharashtra is celebrating its foundation day. The Maoists were in the final stages of observing a week-long protest to mark the first anniversary of 40 of their members who were gunned down by security forces on April 22 last year.