Around 20 CRPF personnel were travelling in the truck that hit a landmine.
Highlights
- Three to four maoists involved in attack on 20 CRPF soldiers in Dantewada
- Maoists looted weapons after blowing up the truck, then shot the soldiers
- Act could be retaliation to an encounter that killed many maoist leaders
Three of the seven soldiers
killed in a landmine blast triggered by Maoists in Dantewada were also shot, the top officer of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) said today.
"The soldiers were shot in the head and chest after the blast," CRPF Director General K Durga Prasad told reporters. He said three to four Maoists were involved in the attack.
Around 20 CRPF personnel were travelling in the truck that hit a landmine as it travelled through the forested district on Wednesday. After triggering the blast, the Maoists looted the weapons in the truck.
The CRPF says the Maoists then went up to the bodies and pumped bullets into them in an apparent act of vindictiveness.
Intelligence sources have said the strike may have been in retaliation to an encounter on Tuesday in which top Maoist leaders were killed in Narayanpur, about 100 km from Dantewada.
The explosion left a huge crater on the road.
The Maoists, said the CRPF chief, had only recently dug up the section of the road between Dantewada and Sukma and planted the mine.
"Maoists are now using remote-controlled IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices)," Mr Prasad said, adding that 50 kg of explosives were used in the Dantewada attack.
The soldiers were in civilian clothes and not carrying any arms, which prompted the
Chhattisgarh government to allege major lapses in protocol.
The CRPF, however, says the soldiers were on a "surprise non-operational movement" and
the information was leaked.
Mr Prasad said: "I can assure there was no laxity on our part."