Raipur, May 8: At least seven jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed when their bullet-proof truck was blown away in a Naxal landmine blast near Pedakodepal village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday afternoon, the police said.

One CRPF jawan was unaccounted for after the blast.
The blast occurred at 4.45 pm when the vehicle was passing through a narrow ghat surrounded by a thick forest. The spot of the incident — on National Highway 16 — is barely eight km from district headquarters in Bijapur.
“While seven bodies have been recovered, we are yet to locate the other jawan,” Bijapur district superintendent of police Avinash Mohanty told this newspaper.
The jawans, belonging to the CRPF’s 168 Battalion, were travelling from Basaguda Avapalli to Bijapur to proceed to their respective homes after their leaves were sanctioned. Reports reaching here said that two civilians were also injured in the incident.
The explosion was so devastating that the vehicle was thrown around 15 metres into the air and completely mangled.
It was a heart-rending scene at the blast site. The bodies and dismembered limbs lay scattered about.
 

Rabindra Nath Choudhury