Chhattisgarh, May 17: Maoists have blown up a bus carrying 50 people on the Sukma to Dantewada road in Chhattisgarh, say TV reports.
Special DGP V Raman, speaking on NDTV said that all 50 people are feared killed in the attack.
The bus was blown up at around 4.30 pm by Maoists in Sukma town using an Improvised Explosive Device says Zee TV.
Reports say at least 25 of the passengers were Special Police Officers, recruited from among the local tribals, to combat the Maoists.
This is the third such attack in the region in a month. 76 CRPF personnel had been killed in an ambush in the first attack.
Maoists blow up bus in Chhattisgarh, 20-30 dead
RAIPUR (IANS): Maoist guerrillas blew up a bus in a forested stretch of Chhattisgarh Monday, killing 20-30 civilians and special police officers (SPOs), police sources and locals said.
The bus was ripped apart by a powerful landmine as it made its way on the Dantewada-Sukma Road in Dantewada district, about 450 km south of Raipur, locals who rushed to the site told IANS.
"The bus has been completely destroyed. There is a 10-feet deep crater," one of the locals told IANS. "We can see 20 to 30 bodies. They are lying all around the site."
But Chhattisgarh Special Director General of Police Vijay Raman told NDTV news channel that up to 50 people had been killed in the deadly attack.
The dead included civilians and SPOs drawn from the local community, police source said.
It was the worst attack blamed on Maoist guerrillas since 76 security personnel were slaughtered, also in Dantewada district, April 6. All but one then were from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
In New Delhi, U.K. Bansal, Special Secretary for Internal Security in the home ministry, told Times Now channel that casualtiies "can be pretty heavy" in Monday's strike.
He said the people in the bus were "partly civilians and partly SPOs. It's extremely unfortunate, a dastardly attack".
"The Naxalites (Maoists) are now taking on innocent civilians," Chhattisgarh Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar said.
The latest attack prompted a meeting between Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
The bus was ripped apart by a powerful landmine as it made its way on the Dantewada-Sukma Road in Dantewada district, about 450 km south of Raipur, locals who rushed to the site told IANS.
"The bus has been completely destroyed. There is a 10-feet deep crater," one of the locals told IANS. "We can see 20 to 30 bodies. They are lying all around the site."
But Chhattisgarh Special Director General of Police Vijay Raman told NDTV news channel that up to 50 people had been killed in the deadly attack.
The dead included civilians and SPOs drawn from the local community, police source said.
It was the worst attack blamed on Maoist guerrillas since 76 security personnel were slaughtered, also in Dantewada district, April 6. All but one then were from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
In New Delhi, U.K. Bansal, Special Secretary for Internal Security in the home ministry, told Times Now channel that casualtiies "can be pretty heavy" in Monday's strike.
He said the people in the bus were "partly civilians and partly SPOs. It's extremely unfortunate, a dastardly attack".
"The Naxalites (Maoists) are now taking on innocent civilians," Chhattisgarh Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar said.
The latest attack prompted a meeting between Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
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