Raipur: The death toll in Monday's Naxal attack on a civilian bus in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh's has risen to 40. At least 15 of those who died were Special Police Officers recruited from among the local population to help the security forces tackle the Naxal menace.
Naxals had targeted the private commercial bus ferrying passengers from Dantewada to Sukma and blown it up between Gadiras and Bhusaras near Chingavaram village, about 450 kms from Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur.
The bus flew about 20 feet in the air when the Naxals detonated an Improvised Explosive Device with gelatin sticks planted on the metalled road. The bus was completely mangled, and several bodies mutilated.
The attack is the biggest in recent times on civilians. On April 6, Dantewada had witnessed the worst-ever Naxal massacre of security forces when 75 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and one Chhattisgarh policeman were killed.
The Chhattisgarh Government has announced an ex-gratia for the families of those killed in Monday's attack.
Chief Minister Raman Singh said in Raipur that an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh would be given to the kin of each of the civilian victims and Rs 5 lakh for the families of the SPOs killed in the attack.
Monday's attack comes after a series of major strikes against security forces in the past one month.
On May 8, seven CRPF jawans were killed when Naxals blew up a bullet-proof vehicle in Bijapur district. The rebels also killed six villagers, including a sarpanch, near Teregaon in Rajnandgaon district of the state on Sunday and threw their bodies outside the villages. They also killed a Congress leader and threatened a former MLA in Jharkhand on Sunday for allegedly supporting anti-Naxal operations.
Meanwhile, in a bid to keep up their offensive and spread fear psychosis Naxals have called for a 48-hour bandh from Tuesday in five states - Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.
The bandh call is to protest against Center's decision to sell 10 per cent government stake in 10 profit making public sector undertakings, and handing over 15,000 acres of land to the steel making company Posco in Orissa.
Major Naxal attacks in the past
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