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Raipur:
Maoists ambushed the convoy of Chhattisgarh Congress president
Nandkumar Patel in a forested area in Raipur district Wednesday,
police said. The Congress leader said seven party workers were
killed, but police confirmed just two deaths, saying the figure
could rise.
Local TV channels aired footage of a heavily damaged vehicle of
the convoy which, officials here at police headquarters here said,
was tossed up several feet in the air. A senior official said that
Maoists had probably mistaken the vehicle to be a police vehicle
and had blown it up.
There were an estimated 25 vehicles in the convoy and the vehicle
that was ripped through was packed with Congress workers and it
was at the rear end of the convoy that was led by Patel.
"At least seven workers of my party were killed and four of them
severely injured in the attack," Patel told IANS over phone in a
choked voice. The attack site is about 150 km from Raipur.
"I am horrified by the attack, we were left at the mercy of
Maoists in a jungle where police knew Maoists have developed
massive presence in recent months," he said.
"There was a zero security to us despite Congress has informed the
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government several days in
advance about the programme of a farmers rally in the
Mainpur-Devbhog area close to the Orissa border".
After the blast, Patel and his senior party colleagues were kept
under security cover at Mainpur police station.
Congress leader and former minister Satyanarayan Sharma, who was
in the convoy, said when the attack took place, Patel, (former
state president) Dhanendra Sahu and other key leaders of the state
unit of the party had safely moved out from the area.
Officials at the police headquarters here said that a team of
policemen had left from the Mainpur police station for the attack
site to assess the situation.
The attack site comes in the same area where Maoists had killed
nine policemen, included Additional Superintendent of Police
Rajesh Pawar, in an ambush in May.
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