A day after 10 security personnel were killed along with the driver of the vehicle in which they travelling in a attack by Maoists in Dantewada district of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, the chief minister (CM) of the state said the sacrifices of the personnel will not go in vain and the fight against the extremists will be intensified.
CM Bhupesh Baghel also lent his shoulder to the coffin of one of the personnel on way to a vehicle in which the bodies were being shifted to their respective native places.
The personnel belonged to the District Reserve Guard of the state police. A blast was carried out using an improvised explosive device to blow up the vehicle. Visuals from the spot showed a huge crater was created in the impact of the explosion and the vehicle was completely destroyed.
On Thursday (27), a wreath-laying ceremony was held where top political leaders from the state including Baghel and the state director general of police were present. People chanted "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" (Long Live Mother India) on the occasion.
The chief minister also met the relatives of the victims and the driver and assured them of assistance.
“Our jawans have been giving a tough fight to Naxalites in their core areas. In the last four years, 75 camps (of security forces) have been set up in the core areas of Naxalites, while earlier the camps were established only in buffer areas," he said.
Baghel added that roads were being constructed in the interiors of Bastar division and police camps were being set up.
"People's confidence in the government has grown. Maoists were pushed to the back foot, and such an attack has happened after a gap of two years which was carried out by them out of disappointment,” he added.
Asked about the government's claims that Maoist activities have been contained, Baghel said, "Earlier, jawans were attacked in their camps, but now jawans have been taking on Naxalites in the forests after carrying out search operations. Now our jawans do not lose their lives in camps."
He said Naxalites carry out their Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) in summer when the visibility increases in forest as leaves and grasses get dried.
(With agency inputs)
Army personnel stand amid the rubble following an explosion inside the police headquarters at Kohat in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on September 18, 2026. An explosion at a historic police headquarters in northern Pakistan on September 18 killed at least eight people and wounded 35 more, officials said, with the country's president swiftly blaming a militant group. Getty Images
Mourners read the holy Quran while sitting around the grave of a paramilitary personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) who was killed during the Afghanistan-Pakistan border clashes, in Kohat on October 17, 2025. A ceasefire along the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan was holding on October 16, officials on both sides said, after dozens of troops and civilians were killed in cross-border clashes.Getty Images
