Raipur:

Ten policemen and their driver had been killed on Thursday when their car was blown up by an improvised explosive gadget (IED) within the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, officers mentioned.

The policemen had been getting back from an anti-Maoist operation that was launched after intelligence inputs, they mentioned.

The policemen belonged to the District Reserve Guard (DRG), a particular drive of the Chhattisgarh police that contains largely native tribals who’ve been skilled to fight Maoists.

The DRG has been instrumental in a number of profitable operations in opposition to the rebels in Bastar, a hotbed of left-wing extremism.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel following the assault.

“The news of the martyrdom of our 10 DRG jawans and a driver due to an IED blast targeting the DRG force which had arrived for anti-Naxal operation on the information of the presence of Maoist cadre under Aranpur police station area of Dantewada is very sad. We share the grief of their families. May their soul rest in peace,” Mr Baghel tweeted.

The Maoists, often known as Naxals, have waged an armed insurgency in opposition to the federal government that has killed a whole bunch of individuals over six many years. They say they’re preventing on behalf of the poorest, who’ve been left in a foreign country’s financial growth.

Since 1967 the group seen as the best risk to the nation’s inside safety have asserted management over huge swathes of land in central and jap India, establishing a so-called “red corridor”. They function from thick forests, and their operations in opposition to the Indian administration and forces are shrouded in secrecy.