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Raipur/New Delhi:
At least 35 special police officers (SPOs) and civilians were killed
when Maoist rebels detonated a landmine targeting a bus in which
they were travelling in a forested stretch in Chhattisgarh's
Dantewada district, the same region where they slaughtered 76
security personnel over a month ago.
The second deadliest attack in the state's Bastar region where
Leftist rebels virtually run a parallel government was widely
condemned, with Home Minister P. Chidambaram calling for a need to
revisit India's counter-insurgency policy -- to make it more
proactive.
The impact of the blast was so strong that the bus was tossed about
20 feet in the air and toppled, killing most of its around 55
occupants. The Maoists detonated the lethal improvised explosive
device when the bus was on a highway linking Dantewada and Sukma
town, about 450 km south of state capital Raipur.
SPOs are recruited from the local
population to assist the police and paramilitary forces in their
anti-insurgency operations.
The first locals and policemen who rushed to the site told IANS on
telephone that the deafening blast created a 10-foot crater around
which bloodied and mangled bodies were scattered.
Many damaged automatic weapons,
obviously carried by the policemen, also lay beside the bodies,
which were later carried away by police personnel in battle
fatigues.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman
Singh said 35 people, including women and children, were killed in
the attack. The number of SPOs killed is not known. The bus had
20-25 special police officers (SPOs).
At least 14 SPOs and a civilian woman
were injured.
"The bus has been completely destroyed. It is difficult to make out
even its shape," one of the locals told IANS. "We can see 20 to 30
bodies. They are lying all around the site."
Raman Singh, who denounced the attack
as "barbaric", said he would discuss the security situation in his
state with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
In Delhi, Chidambaram in a private TV channel interview condemned
the guerrilla attack and stressed that the problem was allowed to
"fester" over the last 10 years.
"We didn't act early. We allowed it (Maoist problem) to fester for
10 years", he said.
He said he was "implementing the cabinet's limited mandate" and
hinted that the strategy to tackle the problem would be revisited.
The home minister said he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were on
the same page about the issue.
"The prime minister has indicated that he will call the meeting of
the Cabinet Committee on Security soon," he said.
Leaders across the political spectrum, including Communists,
unequivocally condemned the attack, the worst blamed on the outlawed
Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) since 76 security
personnel were slaughtered, also in Dantewada district, April 6.
"There is need for strong, firm action as it affects security and
safety of the country. We cannot have islands where writ of
government does not run," opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told IANS.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury
said: "We strongly condemn this attack. It shows the callous manner
in which Maoists are taking innocent lives."
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said the government will take stern
measures to tackle Maoists and defeat them. "These acts prove that
they are desperate and are absolutely inhuman and barbaric. Attacks
like these will only encourage the government to take stern action
against them and defeat them."
The latest attack prompted a meeting between the prime minister and
Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who had offered to resign after the
April 6 massacre.
The place where the attack took place is part of the sprawling
Bastar region, which is heavily forested and populated mainly by
tribals, who are the mainstay of the Maoist movement.
The CPI-Maoist, which has called for a two-day shutdown in five
states starting Tuesday, has turned Bastar into its stronghold
deploying hundreds of armed cadres.
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